
Book.-ijJLb 

GopghtN 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



MAKING 
A NEWSPAPER 



BY 

JOHN L. GIVEN 

LATE OF THE NEW YORK " EVENING SUN" 




NEW YORK 

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 

1907 













Copyright, 1907, 

BY 
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 

Published April, iqoj 



THE QUINN & BODEN CO. PRESS 
RAHWAY, N. J. 









TO 
MY WIFE 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 

I. The American Newspaper 

II. Newspaper Office Organization 

III. The Editor-in-Chief 
» 

IV. The Managing Editor 
V. Uncovering the News 

VI. The Police as Newsgatherers 

VII. Police Courts as News Centers 

VIII. Starting the Day's Work 

IX. What the City Editor Does 

X. Qualifications for Journalism 

XL How the Reporters Work . 

XII. Writing a Newspaper Story 

XIII. News from Outside the City 

XIV. Preparing for Journalism 
XV. Getting a Situation 

XVI. The Prizes in Journalism 

XVII. With the Printers 

XVIII. The Money-Making Department 



page 

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22 

30 
36 

54 

69 

89 

97 

117 

147 

153 

189 

219 

240 

255 

266 

282 

305 



111 



MAKING A NEWSPAPER 

CHAPTER I 
THE AMERICAN NEWSPAPER 

The average American, while he does not perhaps 
often realize it, regards the newspapers of his country 
much as he regards the Liberty Bell and Bunker Hill. 
In the Liberty Bell and Bunker Hill he sees symbols 
of independence and democratic government. In the 
newspapers he sees concrete examples of that price- 
less possession, free speech. Holding the newspapers 
thus apart from the ordinary, he is willing to overlook 
the fact that they are in reality pure business ventures 
conducted for the purpose of making money, and con- 
sider them as representing not men but principles. 
The American is proud of his newspapers, and while 
there is here and there an example which he may not 
defend, he is ever ready to praise them and, if need be, 
fight for them as a whole. There is nothing which 
will make the eagle shriek louder than the shadow of 
a muzzle for the press. 

Newspapers are read everywhere in America, for 
the editor, like the missionary and the school-teacher, is 
ever on the lookout for new territory; but the most 
persistent readers are found in the larger cities. Here 
a newspaper is a daily necessity. Even the newly ar- 
rived, long down-trodden immigrant cannot wait until 



2 Making a Newspaper 

he learns to read English, but must have a daily jour- 
nal printed in his native tongue. Apparently the thirst 
for information is in the air. In the crowds that ride 
to the offices, stores, and factories in the morning there 
is scarce a man or a woman who does not carry a 
paper, and in the home-going crowds those who are 
not reading, or carrying papers as evidence that they 
intend to read, are so few that unless sought for they 
are overlooked. Were one to make inquiry, too, he 
would learn that many of these insistent readers con- 
tinue their search for news all day long. New editions 
aggregating hundreds of thousands of copies are issued 
in the largest cities at intervals of an hour or so from 
early morning until late at night, and the newsboys 
never cease making sales. On Sunday the newspaper 
reading goes on with unusual energy. Knowing that 
their patrons will have plenty of time on their hands, 
the publishers enlarge their papers for this day to four 
or five times their ordinary size, and having done this, 
print about twice the usual number of copies. There 
are plenty of persons in America who do little else on 
Sundays than pore over newspapers. 

Like most things American, the American news- 
paper is continually changing. Fifteen years ago it 
was not exactly what it was ten years before, and at 
the present time there are newspapers conducted along 
lines that were undreamt of fifteen years ago. If an 
old-time editor had attempted to enlarge the circulation 
of his paper by using bill-poster type for headings, 
printing colored pictures, and giving away tin whistles, 
chewing gum, false faces, and kites, he would have 
been looked upon as crazy, and the probabilities are 
that he would have been restrained by his relatives and 
friends. To-day there are editors who are doing these 



The American Newspaper 3 

very things, and in twelve months some of them are 
disposing of as many papers as some of the famous 
old editors one hears about sold in half as many years. 
As a result of some of the new methods introduced 
into newspaper work, the term newspaper has of late 
years taken on a new meaning. The old-style news- 
paper was a publication which was intended to appeal 
to grown men only, and men of staid habits, at that. 
It printed the news, but it made no pretense of pro- 
viding light or easy reading. It ignored one-half the 
adult population entirely — the women — in bidding for 
readers, and took no account whatever of the children ; 
apparently the editors proceeded on the theory that the 
women could let the papers alone if they did not like 
them, and that the children were beneath notice. The 
new-style paper is conducted on a different plan. In- 
stead of taking a high and mighty attitude it strives 
to please by offering something to everybody. The 
solid news is given as in the old-style papers, but the 
stories are written so that they are entertaining; there 
is a continued story ; a whole page of sporting news is 
presented ; the chess-lover gets a column ; the man who 
likes town talk is considered; the fisherman is told 
where the fish are biting; pictures are provided for 
those who like them; in short, all tastes are remem- 
bered. And a particular effort is made to please the 
women. Every bit of current news in which it is 
thought they will be interested is exploited at length, 
and this is supplemented by the talk of women's clubs, 
fashion notes, recipes, and dress patterns. To the chil- 
dren an appeal little less insistent is made. For them 
there are funny pictures, jokes, puzzles, descriptions 
of games, and frequently — this with the Sunday edi- 
tion — coupons entitling them to dolls, boxes of paints, 



4 Making a Newspaper 

and other articles that might be expected to appeal to 
juvenile hearts. The new-style newspaper, when it 
does what its editors strive to make it do, delivers a 
universal appeal and once gaining access to a home be- 
comes a household necessity. To a certain extent it 
becomes the daily instructor and entertainer for the 
whole family. 

Of course, most newspapers, coming in between the 
two extremes, are examples of neither the old nor the 
new school, and the great range of possibilities ac- 
counts in part for the difference of opinion that is 
shown to exist when the question "What is a news- 
paper ?" is asked. There are definitions almost without 
number forthcoming. With few exceptions, however, 
they can be divided into three classes. Accord- 
ing to one definition, and this is given by persons who 
always read the editorial columns carefully, a news- 
paper is a molder of public opinion. Those who are 
of this mind speak of the "Power of the Press,'' and 
the "Fourth Estate," and among them are most of 
the individuals who write lengthy letters to the editors 
and in print are known as "Fairplay," "Justice," or 
"Pro Bono Publico." When one of these persons dis- 
closes himself he is usually found to be well past 
middle age. A second definition comes from those 
persons who devote themselves almost exclusively to 
the news columns. These, and they form a large ma- 
jority of the newspaper readers, make the assertion 
that a newspaper is a recorder of current events. This 
definition is as safe as it is simple, for no one can deny 
that a newspaper is a recorder of events, even while 
insisting that it is other things as well. The third 
definition is given by persons, forming a comparatively 
small class, who make themselves heard frequently, 



The American Newspaper 5 

although not often in print. These assert positively 
and aggressively that a good many newspapers are 
scandal-mongering busy-bodies, and the most vehement 
of them declare that were they so minded they could 
produce convincing evidence in proof of their asser- 
tions. Not infrequently, one speaking of newspapers 
in this strain leads others to suspect that some particu- 
lar occurrence has led to the forming of the opinion 
expressed. Therefore, to avoid the possibility of 
creating a wrong impression, a person should not rail 
against newspapers unless he is in a place where he is 
especially well known, or else not known at all. 

There are in almost every large city journals which 
answer to each of the definitions given, and every per- 
son would do well to remember this, and not become 
too insistent when advancing his views. Anyone 
familiar with New York newspapers can name one of 
them which is acknowledged to be a molder of public 
opinion, but does not enjoy a reputation for the com- 
pleteness of its news except among its regular readers ; 
another which influences very few with its editorials, 
but is prized by its patrons because it presents its news 
in an attractive manner and rarely misses anything of 
consequence; and still a third which cannot raise much 
objection when it is called a scandal-monger. As it is 
in New York so it is elsewhere. But in just which 
class a particular newspaper is placed depends to a 
considerable extent upon the person making the classi- 
fication. A newspaper which one person considers a 
model is to another a dull, uninteresting publication, 
while what the second person may regard as embody- 
ing the best qualities of modern journalism may by the 
first be regarded as embodying the very worst. There 
is no unanimity of opinion when the division is only 



6 Making a Newspaper 

a question of good or bad. Every type of newspaper 
has its admirers, and were a dozen men to be selected 
in any large city to classify their local journals, the 
chances are that they would never come to an agree- 
ment, each having in his mind different standards of 
excellence. 

Newspaper workers, the men who make the news- 
papers, counting the cost, the aim, and the labor in- 
volved, say that without making fine distinctions there 
are three kinds of journalism in America. There is 
first the kind which merely records — the common, or 
garden variety. This brand recites what occurs in 
plain sight, but on dull days, when fires and accidents 
are few and the local politicians are quiet, it fills its 
columns with material which can be procured in pro- 
fusion through the expenditure of no greater effort 
than the wielding of a pair of shears. Against this 
kind of journalism not much can be said. But there 
is nothing to say for it. 

There is another kind of journalism which records 
the everyday occurrences about which everyone wants 
to know, but, not content with this, acts as a dissemina- 
tor of general information and deals with causes and 
effects as well as events. It does what most individuals 
cannot do because of a lack of time or opportunity — 
keeps watch on the men who serve the public, guards 
the public purse, and restrains those who would in- 
fringe on the public rights — tells of public improve- 
ments that are under way and suggests others, and 
heralds, in words that everyone can understand, great 
inventions and wonderful discoveries. Where it can 
it tells what is going to occur. It tells what the 
scientists, the educators, the law-makers, the artists, 
and the writers are doing, and contrasts the past with 



The American Newspaper 7 

the present. Continually it makes known that which 
is useful and instructive, as well as that which is only 
entertaining. In brief, it presents a picture of the 
world's progress. 

The third kind of journalism, which is of com- 
paratively recent origin, might be regarded as not 
completed but only in process of formation. This is 
the so-called yellow journalism, which got its name in 
1897 when the leading exponent of the school was ex- 
ploiting with much ostentation a series of colored 
^pictures in which the foremost character wore a yellow 
dress. One of the long-established papers coined the 
term "yellow journalism," using the word yellow in 
its slang interpretation, which is, cowardly, mean, 
contemptible. 

The first kind of journalism, that which records 
only, flourishes best in small towns, and is not often 
found in large cities. Most of the papers which repre- 
sent this type are nothing more than bread-winners, 
pure and simple. By their owners and their editors 
they are looked upon as mediums through which a liv- 
ing is to be gained, and as good livings are rarely 
gained through them, they are seldom regarded with 
affection. Hardly ever do the workers employed on 
them do their very best ; the news columns they regard 
as nothing more than necessary evils, which must be 
maintained because without them there would be no 
advertisers, and more important, no livings. This 
kind of journalism needs no more attention here. 

The second kind — that which endeavors to present 
a picture of the world's progress — is an ideal rather 
than a reality. There are a few papers which come 
close to it, some very close; but a great many which 
aim to attain it fall far short. Some reach the ideal 



8 Making a Newspaper 

in their news columns, but through bias or self-interest, 
print editorials which keep them from the goal. 
Others fall short because they fail to tell of the com- 
monplace occurrences. Still others, the majority, fail 
now in one thing, now in another. Details are their 
undoing, and their owners and their editors, perhaps 
more than any others, spy out the weak places and the 
mistakes. There are probably no editors who see their 
papers as ideals. But this second kind of journalism 
might be called the standard. 

Within recent years whenever daily journalism is 
discussed, the third kind — yellow journalism — gets 
the lion's share of attention. In fact, a talk on jour- 
nalism almost always becomes a talk on yellow journal- 
ism. The other kinds get a few words, but they are 
lumped together and considered as a negative. Maga- 
zine writers handle yellow journalism in every con- 
ceivable manner, college professors and ministers talk 
about it, and everyone who has fault to find with the 
public print holds it responsible. It is an extremely 
popular topic of conversation; even the ragged news- 
boys wonder, starting their day's work, what brand of 
sensation it will permit them to cry. 

Yellow journalism originated through a desire to 
gain readers and advertisers, and it produced results. 
Its original disciples have readers by the hundred thou- 
sand and they have about all the advertising that they 
can well handle. More than this, they are not afraid of 
losing either readers or advertisers. The advertisers 
they know they can hold as long as they have readers, 
and the readers they hold in a tight embrace. The 
yellow journals stole their early patrons from no other 
publications. Instead, they offered something attract- 
ive to persons not in the habit of reading, and thus 



The American Newspaper 9 

created a demand where none had existed. And even 
now the bulk of the yellow journals go either into 
the hands of those persons upon whom matter-of-fact 
stories and subdued headlines make no impression, or 
those who, while depending upon other papers for in- 
formation which can be accepted as true, elect to look 
at pictures, read sensations, and acquire mild doses of 
philosophy in the form of out-of-the-ordinary edi- 
torials, as a kind of relaxation. To please persons in 
either class is by no means an easy task ; they demand 
thrills every day and they will not tolerate dullness 
or pedantry. Because of this the yellow journals 
have room for none other than particularly active 
journalists. Their foremost editors are always 
stars in their calling, and the under editors and 
the reporters are almost universally men of education 
who possess more than average skill. Most of these 
are attracted to the yellow journals by higher pay 
than they can get elsewhere, and it is a well-known 
fact that since the advent of this style of journalism 
newspaper salaries have been raised in most of the 
leading cities. With money the yellow journals are 
prodigal in all departments. They pay good salaries, 
good enough to capture almost every worker they 
want, and they rarely think of expense when it is a 
question of getting news. 

That the men who make the yellow journals approve 
of all they do is not to be asserted. The reporters 
who manufacture the "signed statements," and get up 
scares about the "Black Hand," treat these things as 
'huge jokes, and a good many of them look upon yellow 
journalism in the same light. The artists and head- 
ing builders, too, often regard it in the same way, and 
frequently extend themselves just to see how foolish 



I o Making a Newspaper 

they can be. The editors do not like everything about 
yellow journalism — the red, yellow, and green inks, 
the double reading headlines, the exaggeration, and the 
bombast — but they do not consider it a subject for 
raillery; at least they do not so acknowledge. Their 
contention is that they go to extremes to attract readers, 
but that in doing this they gain wide followings, and 
are thus enabled to right wrongs, protect the weak, 
and strive with effect for the public good. That the 
yellow journals really do some of these things cannot 
be denied. Since they have come into existence it has 
ceased to be an ordinary occurrence for the officers 
of banks gone to ruin through neglect, to say to the 
despoiled depositors : "We are sorry for you, but we 
can do nothing," and for ambitious scoundrels proof 
against mere criticism to infringe on the public rights, 
confident that they are safe because no one who is 
competent will take the trouble to interfere. For selfish 
ends or not, the yellow journals have put a damper 
on these performances and a lot more like them. 

And it is worth remarking that the yellow journals 
are not so obtrusive as they were a few years ago. 
The worst have toned down, and some papers, un- 
doubtedly once among the leaders, are now yellow only 
on exceedingly rare occasions; first-class newspapers, 
they offend no oftener by over-doing than do their 
most captious contemporaries by suppressing. Toned 
down, yellow journalism is more fallacious than 
vicious, and its most prominent earmarks are im- 
pudence and impertinence. And even at its worst 
yellow journalism was not as bad as it was pictured. 
To listen to some of its enemies one would have 
thought that it instigated murder, riot, theft, and 
arson without end, and that it was responsible for 



The American Newspaper 1 1 

most of the crimes of every sort committed. In 
reality, most of the criticism consisted of generalities 
that meant little or nothing. Adhering to facts, in- 
stances where yellow journalism has done worse than 
exaggerate and offend by exposing things that might 
better have been hid from view are hard to find. 

In a rather roundabout way there has crept into the 
newspaper field in America, in the last few years, the 
same tendency that has made itself so manifest in 
manufacturing — the tendency toward domination by a 
comparatively small number. There are no newspaper 
trusts and there are not now any more consolidations 
and mergings of different publications taking place 
than ever before, but all the same the principle of the 
survival of the fittest is making trouble for many pub- 
lishers. Odd as it may appear the new move is being 
brought about by the growing efficiency of the steam 
and electric railroads of the country, and the exten- 
sion of the rural mail delivery system. With the 
adding of every new train and the improvement of 
every new time-table, the building of every new trol- 
ley road, and the establishment of every new mail 
route, the big city papers are enabled to reach out 
further, and, wherever they reach, the local papers 
suffer, their readers forsaking them for the better 
and usually cheaper importations. There is not 
a paper published in any city between New York 
and Boston that has not in the last ten years 
been hurt by the papers of these two cities, and in 
some of the small towns the local papers have had 
inroads made on their business that have come nigh 
wrecking them. All through Pennsylvania the same 
conditions exist, the small town papers being affected 
by the appearance in their territory of the Philadelphia 



12 Making a Newspaper 

and Pittsburg publications. Nor are the small cities 
and towns the only places where the call for newspapers 
is in part supplied from outside. The great city of 
Brooklyn does not boast of a single morning paper, the 
New York papers supplying the entire demand, and so 
thoroughly do the Pittsburg papers dominate their sec- 
tion of the country that Allegheny, a city having a 
population of over 125,000, cannot support an Eng- 
lish daily, either morning or evening. Jersey City 
and Newark both have excellent local papers, publica- 
tions that are enterprising .and efficient, but with the 
New York morning papers landing in these cities long 
before dawn and the evening papers coming in at every 
hour of the day, the papers of both places have to be 
content with less than they deserve, although they wage 
constant warfare with the papers of the smaller New 
Jersey cities that are nearby. 

The country weeklies, too, find themselves every 
year subject to greater competition. Many that were 
published close to large cities have been forced to the 
wall, and many others have been compelled to lower 
their subscription price until, once great money-makers, 
they now do little more than earn bare livings for their 
owners. Fifteen years ago $2.00 a year was not 
considered an exorbitant price for a country weekly. 
Now $1 a year is all that most country papers — there 
are over 12,000 of them in the United States — dare 
ask. The saving grace of the country weekly pub- 
lished near a large city is the job office. 

There are in the United States at the present time 
over 2300 daily publications, and in the aggregate 
they issue every day above 15,000,000 papers, enough 
to supply one copy to every five inhabitants. In some 
cities the aggregate circulation compared with the 



The American Newspaper 1 3 

population would indicate that there were four copies 
printed to every six persons, but this is an exaggeration 
explainable when one thinks of the conditions in a place 
like Pittsburg, where the newspapers have almost as 
many readers outside of the actual city as they have in 
it. Evening dailies outnumber morning dailies about 
two to one, and in the smaller cities the evening papers 
are increasing the more rapidly largely because the 
evening papers are less susceptible to outside competi- 
tion. It must be here pointed out that while there are 
over 2300 dailies published in the United States, some 
of these are printed in foreign languages or are neigh- 
borhood or class publications, such as financial reviews 
and stock-yard reports, which do not make a universal 
appeal for patronage. This is particularly true in 
Manhattan and Bronx boroughs, which are ordinarily 
considered as making up the city of New York. In 
these boroughs there are 47 daily publications, but of 
this number there are only 15 printed in English 
which aim to present the news of the world and are 
circulated broadcast. Outside of New York the differ- 
ence is not so great, but in every large city the special 
publications exist. How many English daily news- 
papers, using the word in its generally accepted sense, 
there are in the country it is impossible to determine, 
for there is no line of demarcation, some of the class 
publications presenting fairly complete accounts of 
certain kinds of general news, but whatever the num- 
ber, there are about 175 printed in cities having over 
100,000 inhabitants, and when a young man at the 
present time talks about "going in for journalism," 
his ultimate aim is, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, 
one of these papers. The big city daily is now the 
thing. 



14 Making a Newspaper 

Among old-time newspaper workers it is often 
said that the foundation of distinctive American jour- 
nalism was laid in 1835, when James Gordon Bennett 
started to publish the New York Herald. Previous 
to that time the editors of the country thought more of 
molding public opinion than they did of presenting the 
news, and their highest ambition apparently was to 
become involved in editorial controversies. When an 
editor felt called upon to tell how the country should be 
run, or to lambaste another editor, the news was allowed 
to go, and even when his mind was at peace he kept 
his dignity. The Herald from the start was run on a 
different principle. It aimed first to give the news, 
and the editor did not wait for the news to be brought 
to him; he went out and got it, and when it became 
necessary he went pretty far. That he had the right 
ideas as to what the people wanted was quickly shown. 
Starting with a capital of less than five hundred dol- 
lars he had his paper firmly established within a few 
years, and in the early forties he was well on the high- 
way of success. The innovations introduced by the 
Herald caused the editors of the long-established 
papers to scoff, but by degrees they had to make con- 
cessions and in self-defense join in the work of pre- 
senting Facts; and once the new ideas were installed 
competition in the modern sense was quick to follow. 

The War of the Rebellion had much to do with con- 
verting the American people into a nation of news- 
paper readers. The controversy over the Slavery 
question and the stirring events leading up to hostilities 
stimulated interest and made many readers, but after 
the fighting began the demand for information became 
universal. Contributing its quota of soldiers, every 
hamlet thereafter had a direct interest in what was 



The American Newspaper 15 

going on at the front. And the demand for news 
gave American journalism fresh impetus, for no paper, 
however small, could fail to hear the cry for informa- 
tion of camps and battles, the killed and the wounded. 
The large city papers, enabled through the increased 
circulation, and the growing receipts from advertising, 
to make expenditures that a few years before would 
have been impossible, responded by sending reporters 
to the front, and making use of the electric telegraph, 
heretofore employed sparingly; the papers printed in 
small towns contented themselves with clipping the 
great news from the large city publications, but this 
they supplemented with letters written by soldiers 
well known to all their readers. By the close of the 
war there were few persons indifferent to the news, 
and no papers which did not realize that news was 
considered before comment. 

But journalism would never have attained the posi- 
tion it occupies either in America or elsewhere, had it 
not been for improvements in the art of printing. Even 
after the first quarter of the last century had passed 
the newspaper printing press was nothing more than a 
machine built on the lines of the familiar letter 
copying press. The type form was inked with a 
hand roller, and after the sheet of paper had been 
adjusted the impression was made by forcing down the 
press's top. Only one impression was made at a time, 
and each sheet had to go through the press twice to be 
printed on both sides. In those days a paper could 
not have gained a circulation of much over 1000, even 
had the demand existed, for this was close to the limit 
of the press's capacity. The ordinary cylinder press 
such as is seen now in small country newspaper offices, 
although in an improved form, came into use about 



16 Making a Newspaper 

1830. In this press the type forms, two pages at a 
time, are laid on a flat bed and moved backward and 
forward under a heavy revolving drum, the paper 
being fed by hand from a table built at one end. With 
mechanical power this press has a capacity of about 
1500 an hour. In 1846 came the forerunner of the 
modern press, a method then being discovered of 
attaching the type form to the drum instead of to the 
press bed. Following this came the process of stereo- 
typing which permitted the reproduction of the types 
in a curved plate which could be attached to a 
revolving cylinder, to which a half-dozen men could 
feed sheets of paper. Then, in 1871, came the web 
press, with stereotyped plates fastened to several 
cylinders and the paper feeding in from a spool, or 
web. In the modern web-perfecting press, which is 
really a number of presses built together, the blank 
paper passes into the machine from several spools, and 
the papers come out printed on both sides, pasted, 
folded, and cut all ready for distribution. There are 
to-day in use presses which the builders say can print 
192,000 eight-page papers in an hour. 

The typesetting machine, long the dream of in- 
ventors, did not come until late in the century, and 
even then it did not come in the form expected, for 
the pioneer machine, still the leader, instead of setting 
types such as are used by hand workers, casts through 
the use of brass matrices solid lines of reading matter. 
As late as 1880 the government census report dealing 
with printing, after speaking of the many improve- 
ments made, said : "The ingenuity of man has not yet 
invented a substitute for the setting of type by hand, 
the method of composition remaining precisely the 
same as it was when printing was first invented." In 



The American Newspaper 17 

1886, Ottmar Mergenthaler, of Baltimore, announced 
that he had accomplished the feat, but four years later 
the hand compositors were still contending that the 
new-fangled contrivances would soon be relegated to 
the scrap heap, while the majority of publishers were 
holding off to see what would happen. In 1894 only 
200 of the machines were in use. In 1906, in the 
United States alone their number was over 10,000, 
while about half as many more were found in England. 
Each machine can do as much work as five average 
hand compositors. Since Mergenthaler announced 
his invention other machines have been placed on the 
market, and in the United States there is now scarcely 
a daily paper published in a town of over 25,000 in- 
habitants which depends upon hand composition. 

The new-style presses, the stereotype plates, and the 
mechanical compositors neither alone nor together, 
however, would have made possible the newspaper as it 
exists had not the manufacturers of paper made won- 
derful progress. As late as 1862 the paper ordinarily 
used by newspapers cost twenty-four cents a pound. 
It was made from cotton rags, and the increasing de- 
mand for rags having pretty well equaled the supply 
the outlook was for higher prices. Relief came when 
it was discovered that serviceable paper could be made 
from wood pulp, and since this, reading is within the 
reach of all. To-day the newspapers get their blank 
paper in rolls weighing about a half a ton at a cost of 
a fraction over two cents a pound, and spend the 
money that would have gone for paper in getting news. 

As a result of all the changes in the art of print- 
ing, newspapers are to-day about as cheap as anything 
on earth. One cent is the prevailing price only be- 
cause no smaller coin is issued. They would probably 



1 8 Making a Newspaper 

in some instances be given away were it not that pub- 
lishers are well aware that people do not attach much 
value to things which anyone can get for nothing. The 
old joke about the "circulation liar" now misses the 
mark so far as the large cities are concerned. A one- 
cent paper, in the largest cities, which has a circulation 
of only 50,000, which was about the limit anywhere 
forty years ago, is ashamed of it and refuses to show 
its books, and 100,000 circulations cause no wide com- 
ment. In New York at the present time there are 
papers which, every day, each print in the neighbor- 
hood of a half million copies. It is worth mentioning 
here that in 1830 daily papers often sold for six cents 
a copy and that it was not until 1833 that a penny 
paper was established in New York. 

Daily newspapers, when their time of issue marks the 
distinction, are divided into two classes, morning and 
evening. A paper of the class first mentioned is true 
to its name in that it is printed and issued in the morn- 
ing, but a large part of the work on it is performed 
during the hours of darkness which most persons 
think of as constituting night. Reporters and editors, 
however, never forget that as time is measured, night 
ends at midnight. If in the course of an evening a 
reporter employed on a morning paper is writing about 
an event of the afternoon he writes "yesterday after- 
noon," knowing that his paper will not be printed 
until the next day is several hours old. But when 
after midnight he is required to write concerning some- 
thing that happened a minute or so after the clock 
marked the beginning of another day, he is careful 
to employ the words, "this morning," with a thought 
to the impression it will create on the persons who 
will read the article a few hours later. It is to be sup- 



The American Newspaper 19 

posed that the man, who, rising from the breakfast 
table at 8 o'clock, picks up his paper and reads in it 
about something which occurred that same morning, 
will be more than ever convinced that his favorite 
journal is an enterprising publication. A reporter for 
an evening paper is equally quick to score by using 
"this morning" instead of "last night," and he will 
stretch a point to get in the word "to-day." "Yester- 
day" he steers clear of when he can. 

The first evening papers were not printed until late 
in the afternoon, but publications of this kind have 
advanced their time of issue until now some of them ap- 
pear on the street as early as 7 o'clock in the morning. 
In New York the most aggressive evening papers 
issue about ten regular editions, the last one some- 
where near 7 o'clock in the evening; extra edi- 
tions are issued later whenever the editors deem them 
necessary. Morning newspapers issue anywhere from 
two to five editions. The first, which usually starts to 
come from the presses soon after 1 o'clock in the 
morning, is for out-of-town circulation exclusively. 
The last, commonly issued at 3.30 o'clock, is for local 
readers. Intermediate editions are sent to nearby 
suburban towns or to particular sections. 

The only part of the Sunday paper which is printed 
on the day of issue is that which contains the news. 
The colored supplements are printed two or three 
weeks in advance, and the sections devoted to special 
stories are usually run off the presses over a week 
before they get into the public's hands. Very often, 
all the supplements are delivered to the newsdealers 
on Thursday and Friday, so that on Sunday morn- 
ing the circulation manager need only attend to the 
distribution of the section that contains the news. 



20 Making a Newspaper 

Where this is done the retail dealers assemble the 
various sections, commonly putting the one which 
contains the news or one containing colored pic- 
tures on the outside. The dealers, unless they exercise 
care in the assembling, produce sad mix-ups, and it is 
because of this danger that the Sunday papers warn 
purchasers to make sure that they get all the pages to 
which they are entitled. 

When two papers, one a morning and the other an 
evening publication, are issued from the same estab- 
lishment, they have, so far as most of the workers on 
them can see, very little in common. Each paper has 
its own editorial rooms, they have different editors 
except for the editor-in-chief, and there are, except in 
rare instances where they employ jointly a few men to 
watch certain places such as minor courts, two dis- 
tinct forces of reporters. Often the editors of one 
paper do not know those of the other even by sight, 
and frequently there is not much love lost between the 
two corps of reporters, partly because the standard of 
pay is not the same for the two papers. Each manag- 
ing editor acts independently when engaging corre- 
spondents to furnish the news of places in the United 
States and Canada, although usually the two papers 
support one set of foreign correspondents between 
them. Each paper has its distinct force of workmen in 
the mechanical departments, and sometimes there are 
two sets of presses. Always, however, there is only 
one business manager and one business office. 

Repeatedly owners have tried to merge the entire 
reportorial staffs of their morning and evening papers, 
but so far none of the attempts have proved successful. 
When the last one was made in New York the news- 
gatherers who were ordered to write two accounts of 



The American Newspaper 21 

every story they reported protested vigorously and 
backed up their protests by making their second stories 
brief and uninteresting; many of them contended that 
even doing their best they could not put much life into 
their second stories. To the remonstrances of the 
reporters were soon added those of the editors, who 
declared that under the new system their work was 
badly hampered. They said that while sometimes 
they found themselves with two accounts of one hap- 
pening, they often as a result of misunderstandings, 
late in the day, found themselves without stories that 
were badly needed, and that, more than this, many of 
the articles which came to them for use were poorly 
written and fit only for the wastebasket. The attempt 
to combine the two staffs of reporters in this instance 
was abandoned after a few weeks' trial. 



CHAPTER II 
NEWSPAPER OFFICE ORGANIZATION 

The working forces of a modern newspaper are 
organized much as are the forces of an army. There 
is one man who corresponds to a commander-in-chief ; 
others who might be likened to generals of divisions; 
under these a great number of minor officers, and, last, 
a host of privates. Each individual has certain duties 
to perform, but each one's province is slightly over- 
lapped from both above and below, with the result 
that no person is indispensable. 

Firsts always, comes the owner of the paper, the 
proprietor. Customarily he contents himself with en- 
gaging the business manager and three or four of the 
foremost editors, but he can step in whenever he 
chooses, and he never allows those subject to his wishes 
to forget that while he may at times be open to con- 
viction, he is not to be denied after he has made up his 
mind. When the paper comes in for commendation 
the owner usually manages to get a place well in the 
foreground, where he can be seen without difficulty; 
but he is entitled to all the honors he gets, for if the 
paper makes a mistake the public forgets all about his 
subordinates and vents its ire on him, as if he were 
alone responsible. And the fact that the public usually 
knows upon whom to direct its attacks when a news- 
paper makes an unpopular move, proves clearly that 
those persons who declare that modern newspapers are 

22 



Newspaper Office Organization 23 

published by greedy corporations and have no indi- 
viduality, are wrong. The ownership of many of 
the larger papers is divided, but where a paper is emi- 
nently successful it almost always has associated with 
it the name of some one man. What those persons 
who sadly announce that newspapers have lost their 
individuality mean, is that the owners now occupy the 
prominence once given to editors; and it might be 
added that an owner-editor, the general public having 
come to realize that a great newspaper is not a one- 
man product, now gets the title owner, whereas 
an owner-editor was once regarded as an editor only. 

Daily journalism has, however, lost its individuality 
to the extent that there are at the present time almost 
no owners of any prominence who look upon their 
papers as mediums through which to air their likes 
and dislikes, as was the custom a half century ago. 
They no longer attack private citizens simply because 
they have grievances against them, and they do not get 
their own private affairs mixed up with their business 
as publishers or editors. The changes that have come 
about cannot be better illustrated than by referring to 
two editorials that were printed in New York in 
January, 1844; one in the Morning Courier and New 
York Enquirer, of which James Watson Webb was 
editor, the other in the Tribune, edited by the great 
Horace Greeley. Angered by an article appearing in 
the Tribune in the course of a controversy concerning 
the question of lower postage rates, Mr. Webb paid his 
respects to Mr. Greeley in part as follows : 

"The Editor of the Tribune is an abolitionist; we, 
precisely the reverse. He is a Philosopher; we are a 
Christian. He is a pupil of Graham, and would have 
all the world live upon bran bread and sawdust; we 



24 Making a Newspaper 

are in favor of living as our fathers did, and of enjoy- 
ing in moderation the good things which God has 
bestowed upon us. . . . He seeks for notoriety by- 
pretending to great eccentricity of character and habits, 
and by the strangeness of his theories and practices; 
we, on the contrary, are content with following in the 
beaten path and accomplishing the good we can in the 
old-fashioned way. He lays claim to greatness by 
wandering through the streets with a hat double the 
size of his head, a coat after the fashion of Jacob's 
of old, with one leg of his pantaloons inside and 
the other outside of his boot, and with boots all spat- 
tered with mud, or possibly a shoe on one foot and a 
boot on the other, and glorying in an unwashed and 
unshaven person. We, on the contrary, eschew all 
such affectations as weak and silly; we think there is a 
difference between notoriety and distinction ; we recog- 
nize the social obligation to act and dress according to 
our station in life; and we look upon cleanliness of 
person as inseparable from purity of thought and 
benevolence of heart. In short, there is not the slightest 
resemblance between the Editor of the Tribune and 
ourselves politically, personally, or socially: and it is 
only when his affectation and impudence are unbear- 
able that we condescend to notice him or his press." 

To this arraignment Mr. Greeley, in the next issue of 
his paper, replied with a column editorial in the course 
of which he said : 

"As to our personal appearance, it does seem time 
that we should say something, to stay the flood of non- 
sense with which the town must by this time be nau- 
seated. Some donkey a while ago, apparently anxious 
to assail or annoy the editor of this paper, and not well 
knowing with what, originated the story of his care- 



Newspaper Office Organization 25 

lessness of personal appearance; and since then every 
blockhead of the same disposition and distressed by a 
similar lack of ideas has repeated and exaggerated 
the foolery ; until from its origin in the Albany Micro- 
scope it has sunk down at last to the columns of the 
Courier and Enquirer, growing more absurd at every 
landing. Yet all this time the object of this silly 
raillery has doubtless worn better clothes than two- 
thirds of those who thus assailed him — better than 
any of them could honestly wear, if they paid their 
debts otherwise than by bankruptcy ; while, if they are 
indeed more cleanly than he, they must bathe very 
thoroughly not less than twice a day. The editor of 
the Tribune is the son of a poor and humble farmer; 
came to New York as a minor without a friend within 
two hundred miles, less than ten dollars in his pocket, 
and precious little besides; he has never had a dollar 
from a relative, and has for years labored under a load 
of debt (thrown on him by others' misconduct and the 
revulsion of 1837), which he can now just see to the 
end of. Thenceforth he may be able to make a better 
show if deemed essential by his friends : for himself, 
he has not much time or thought to bestow on the 
matter. That he ever affected eccentricity is most 
untrue : and certainly no costume he ever appeared in 
would create such a sensation in Broadway as that 
James Watson Webb would have worn but for the 
clemency of Gov. Seward. Heaven grant our assail- 
ant may never hang with such weight on another 
Whig Executive. We drop him." 

The reference to the garb that Mr. Webb might have 
worn calls for the explanation that after having been 
sentenced to prison for fighting a duel, he was saved by 
a pardon. 



26 Making a Newspaper 

Although no large newspaper would at the present 
time publish editorials anything like those quoted, 
newspaper workers know that the owners of the great 
dailies, or the men who hold the controlling interests 
in them, are never mere figureheads as is frequently 
assumed by outsiders. The measure in which a paper 
actually reflects the ideas of its owner depends, though, 
upon the man's inclinations, habits, capabilities, and 
individuality. If he delights in active newspaper 
work, keeps in close touch with his paper, — and in 
these days he can do this even though he be thousands 
of miles away from the editorial rooms, — is an able 
manager, and has a strong character, it will voice his 
sentiments in every issue. If he elects to give his 
time to other interests, shirks responsibility, or lacks 
force, it will represent him only in a general way; its 
methods will be those of which he approves, but the 
men he hires will determine how the methods shall be 
applied. 

There are in every large newspaper office three main 
departments and three classes of workers. One class 
includes all those persons who have to do with the 
paper's financial affairs, the business manager and his 
assistants; another includes the editors and reporters, 
the men who supply the reading matter; and in the 
third are the mechanical workers, the compositors, 
stereotypers, and pressmen. The men who distribute 
the printed papers really make up a fourth class, but 
because they are directed by the business manager, or 
one of his assistants, and have nothing to do with the 
actual making of the paper, they are by newspaper 
workers considered as a part of the business office 
force. 

At the head of the business department is the busi- 



Newspaper Office Organization 27 

ness manager, the holder of the purse. Under him are 
the advertising manager, who sells space in the adver- 
tising columns of the paper; the circulation manager, 
who supervises the distribution of the printed papers 
to the newsdealers who retail them to the public; and 
the cashier, who handles the receipts and disburse- 
ments. Under each of these men is a large force in- 
cluding, respectively, solicitors; mailroom men, wagon 
drivers, and porters; and bookkeepers and clerks. 

First in the editorial department, next to the owner, 
comes the editor-in-chief, who looks after the paper's 
general welfare, paying particular attention to the edi- 
torials. The managing editor, who is next in authority, 
has charge of the news, supervises its collection, and 
sees that it is properly prepared for publication. 
Under the managing editor, who usually has an as- 
sistant, are the city editor and night city editor, who 
handle the local news; the telegraph editor, who col- 
lects and prepares for publication all the news that 
comes from outside of the city ; the artists and cartoon- 
ists, and the various department heads, including the 
exchange editor, who reads the out-of-town papers that 
come to the office, in search of material worth reprint- 
ing; the music, art, and dramatic critics; the financial, 
sporting, real estate, and society editors, and the edi- 
tor of the Sunday supplements. Usually the managing 
editor engages all the special editors, who are account- 
able to him. The city editor directs the reporters, 
while the telegraph editor supervises the work of the 
correspondents, who are, in reality, reporters stationed 
outside of the city. Both these editors are assisted by 
staffs of copy readers, who edit the articles submitted 
and write the headings for them. 

In the mechanical department of a newspaper there 



28 Making a Newspaper 

are three heads : the foreman of the composing room, 
the foreman of the stereotypers, and the superintendent 
of the pressroom. 

To a newspaper worker no definite impression is 
conveyed when one merely says that a man is an editor. 
The financial editor, for example, is a writer. He 
may have two or three newsgatherers to whom he must 
give some attention, under his care, but his principal 
task is the preparation of an article dealing with values. 
The telegraph editor, on the other hand, is busy most 
of the time with actual editing, correcting, pruning, or 
embellishing; rarely does he write a complete article. 
The managing editor and the city editor neither write 
nor edit. Their work calls only for directing. Thus 
an editor may be a writer, a reader of manuscripts, or a 
director. 

There are many persons who labor under the im- 
pression that the reporters, in whose ranks most of 
the editors have started, merely carry the information 
they collect to their offices, and there turn it over to 
editors to be written. But the impression is a false 
one. The reporter who investigates an occurrence 
writes about it unless he transmits his news to the 
office over a telephone wire, and when the telephone 
is employed the story is written by another reporter 
and not by an editor. The stories written by the re- 
porters must be good enough, too, to be printed almost 
as they reach the editors. It might here be explained 
that the word "story" is used by newspaper workers 
in a variety of ways. The newsgatherer who has been 
sent out to report a fire, meeting an acquaintance who 
asks him on what he is engaged, says that he is after, 
or covering, a "fire story." On returning to his office, 
he says that he has a story about a fire, and the editor 



Newspaper Office Organization 29 

to whom he gives an outline of his information tells 
him to write a story of a half column or some other 
length. Through writing the reporter calls his manu- 
script his story, and later talking with another re- 
porter, may tell him that the story, meaning the fire 
and the attending incidents, was a hard one to cover. 
It is apparent that the constant employment of the 
word makes it possible to dispense with many explana- 
tions. When a paper prints a story that all its rivals 
missed, the editors say that they have scored a "beat" 
or a "scoop." 

While every large newspaper has its forces organ- 
ized on the same general plan, it is impossible to say 
that this or that editor always performs such and such 
work, for almost every office is distinctive in some par- 
ticular. In most establishments the editor-in-chief is 
the power that makes the paper what it is ; in a few the 
managing editor is the real leader, and in a very few 
the city editor stands close enough to the owner to 
exert influence at least as great as that of either of 
the others. In contrast, there are city editors who 
are in reality nothing more than chief copy readers, 
the managing editors or assistant managing editors 
going over their heads when there is need for real 
planning in the assigning of the reporters. Because 
there is this element of individuality, one describing 
the organization of a newspaper's forces cannot keep 
a particular office in view. It is necessary, rather, to 
take a number of them and, picking out those things 
which the majority have in common, describe them in 
general. 



CHAPTER III 
THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

Although every newspaper is dominated by its 
owner, the character of the publication and the meas- 
ure of success which it attains depend to a great 
extent upon the editor-in-chief. In the owner's ab- 
sence he works nine-tenths of the time free-handed and 
rarely under hard and fast orders, for almost all of the 
few commands that are transmitted to him are of a 
general nature and permit of liberal interpretations; 
and, when the owner is on the scene, he is still power- 
ful, for then he serves as chief adviser and close con- 
fidant. Moreover, he has a heavy vote in all vital 
questions, for the owner never forgets that it is part 
of the editor-in-chief's duties to solve the hard and 
vexatious problems and point out the safe way. The 
explicit orders that he gets the editor-in-chief of course 
carries out to the letter, and he is slow to introduce 
radical innovations offhand, for he is well aware that 
he obtained the office he holds because his known views 
and methods met with the owner's approval. By the 
other workers the editor-in-chief is regarded as the 
owner's personal representative, and they obey him ex- 
plicitly, partly because they have no means of knowing 
which of the orders he gives are original with him and 
which he is merely transmitting for his superior. 

Like the head of a large manufacturing concern the 
editor-in-chief oversees everything, but instead of al- 

30 



The Editor-in-Chief 3 1 

lowing details to take up his time he outlines a policy 
and looks to his subordinates for results. Indeed, one 
of the best tests of his capacity and efficiency is his 
ability to choose subordinates who can carry out his 
plans. That he may know how affairs in the office are 
moving, he every day requires the editors under him to 
tell him about the work in hand, and he keeps it before 
them that they are not to take chances when he is 
within reach. About anything that he does not under- 
stand he asks questions and he requires clear replies. 
To make suggestions he is no slower than the owner. In 
some offices there is a meeting every day, attended by the 
editor-in-chief, the managing editor, and the editorial 
writers, at which matters of interest are brought up for 
discussion, but when the editor-in-chief has a decided 
opinion, there is little argument ; the other editors may 
differ with him, but if they do they refrain from in- 
sisting, for they do not forget that he is held re- 
sponsible for the welfare of the paper and that he 
wants around him only men who can see things as he 
does'. 

When preparing articles dealing with the "Peculiar 
Weather Conditions Existing," or with the "Latest 
Discoveries in the Interior of Africa" — when writing 
anything, in short, which may be read with interest, 
but will occasion no great amount of talk and certainly 
no criticism — the editorial writers, who are engaged by 
the editor-in-chief, and are known as editorial writers 
rather than editors, choose their own subjects and 
treat them according to their inclinations. But edi- 
torials which take a side, or advocate a certain course 
of action when the public is divided, are usually in- 
spired. The editor-in-chief explains more or less in 
detail what he desires said, and the editorial writers 



32 Making a Newspaper 

dress his thoughts as best they can. Always the 
editor-in-chief passes on all editorials before they are 
published, and in some offices he writes an editorial 
every day himself. 

As a rule the editor-in-chief has attained his place 
after long service in the newspaper business ; but very 
often the other editorial writers have been trained in 
different schools. Frequently they graduate into daily 
journalism after giving up college professorships, and 
among them are found many former ministers and 
lawyers. Sent out to do reporting, many of the 
editorial writers would find themselves hard put. To 
a great extent the editorial writers and the men who 
handle the news work with opposite aims. The edi- 
torial writers sum up and set forth conclusions, while 
the news editors and reporters confine themselves to 
setting forth facts. The editorial writers can en- 
croach on the preserves of the other workers whenever 
they choose, but news editors and reporters must, 
whatever else they do, avoid sermonizing. Because 
they are not expected to air their own opinions, news 
editors and reporters do not often become editorial 
writers. Now and then, however, one of them, am- 
bitious to get out of the turmoil incident upon the 
gathering and editing of news, tries his hand at para- 
graphs, which he submits to the chief editorial writer, 
and in time develops into a full-fledged editorial writer. 
At first he writes paragraphs only, and it may be years 
before he sees his articles displayed in the first column 
of the editorial page. 

To preserve a proper balance between the editorial 
end of the paper and the news end is one of the editor- 
in-chief's most difficult tasks. It is very, very easy 
for him to allow one to dominate the other, and he 



The Editor-in-Chief 



33 



need only relax his vigilance a trifle to have his paper 
begin to approach smugness. The editorials are all 
well enough in their way, but a newspaper is first and 
foremost supposed to give the news, and the readers 
want facts, enough to permit them to form their own 
opinions. The majority of readers skip the editorial 
columns entirely, and doing this they will not tolerate 
the attempt to force editorials upon them through the 
news columns. Many persons, moreover, who do read 
the editorials do so in an antagonistic spirit, flaring 
up the minute they become aware that the writer is 
trying to relieve them of the necessity of thinking. 

Many editorial writers, aware of the antagonism 
with which the ever-ready adviser is regarded, do not 
openly attempt to mold opinion. Instead, they reach 
their end by marshaling their facts in such a manner 
that the readers will be inclined to form certain con- 
clusions. The persons who fall into traps thus pre- 
pared are doubly secured, for they tell themselves, 
reading an editorial, that the editorial writer or the 
paper is a sound reasoner, as in view of the facts set 
forth the only logical conclusion possible has been 
reached. They overlook the possibility that some facts 
may have been concealed, and flatter themselves that 
the writer agrees with them, whereas he has led them 
to agree with him. These editorial tactics are similar 
to those employed by the clever after-dinner speaker, 
who tells a story in such a manner that his hearers, 
seeing the point before he comes to it, are put in good 
humor, and congratulating themselves on their own 
astuteness applaud with double incentive. There are 
some editorial writers, too, who place great faith in 
reiteration. Day after day, wishing to attain a certain 
end, they say the same thing, varying their method of 



34 Making a Newspaper 

expression as often as they can. After a time, many 
persons reading what they have to say and remember- 
ing that they have seen the same thing said many times 
before but forgetting just where, come to think that 
what is said must be true. Occasionally, also, when 
employing the tactics of reiteration, the editorial 
writer sticks to a certain phrase, as does the advertiser 
who makes every bill-board and blank wall shout : "It 
Shines." 

To be thoroughly competent an editorial writer must 
possess an enormous fund of information and must 
have a ready pen which he can move to orders, even 
those least fancied. The man who could write con- 
vincingly only when convinced would soon find himself 
in ill favor with the editor-in-chief and the owner, 
both of whom assume that their commands provide full 
justification at all times. And, assigning topics, 
neither one of them bothers himself about the manner 
in which they are received so long as the surface com- 
placency is preserved. To keep abreast of the times 
the editorial writers have to do a deal of reading out- 
side of the office as well as in it, and the young reporter 
who thinks because he sees them come into the office 
late in the day, and because they appear to take things 
easy, that they have a sinecure, is very much mistaken. 
They are regular attendants at the great public libraries, 
where they study as industriously as any schoolboys, 
and many of them carry with them when they report 
for duty editorials prepared in their homes the night 
before. Inside a newspaper office the editorial writers 
have a rather peculiar standing. They are regarded as 
having almost nothing in common with the men who 
concern themselves with the news, and partly no doubt 
because most of them are no longer young, they are 



The Editor-in-Chief 35 

considered by the reporters and the under-editors as 
highly reputable and distinguished gentlemen, who are 
at all times entitled to great respect. In fact, the 
editorial writers, the editor-in-chief, and the managing 
editor are by the other workers viewed as the solid 
pillars of the establishment. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE MANAGING EDITOR 

The managing editor is, in the opinion of most of 
those under him, the mainspring of the office. With 
the editorials he has nothing to do, except that he is 
listened to with respect in the counsel room, and he is 
subject to the will of both the owner and the editor-in- 
chief, but he is the one upon whom it devolves to 
superintend the collection of the news and the actual 
making of the newspaper. The owner and the 
editor-in-chief may know how to get the news and how 
to print it. The managing editor must not only know 
how ; he must direct and take part in the work and see 
that it is well done. If he fails, it avails nothing that 
the editorials are polished and the aim of the paper 
ideal. A paper may succeed without printing edi- 
torials worth reading and without having any aim 
other than the making of money, but it cannot possibly 
thrive unless it gets the news and prints it in a pleasing 
and attractive form. 

In the absence of specific instructions, the man- 
aging editor, so far as the news columns are concerned, 
and these include all except those reserved for the edi- 
torials, says what shall and what shall not be printed, 
and constantly he advises the city editor, night editor, 
telegraph editor, and heads of special departments to 
the end that what is printed shall appear in a form 

36 



The Managing Editor 37 

and fashion pleasing to him. By the city editor his 
likes and dislikes are made known to the copy readers 
who edit local news and to the reporters, while by 
the telegraph editor they are conveyed to the men 
who edit news which comes from outside of the city, 
and indirectly passed on to the correspondents, who 
learn by observing the manner in which the stories 
they send in are corrected or rewritten. The manag- 
ing editor has a great advantage in that he is in the 
office at the time the subordinate editors, the copy 
readers, and the reporters are at work there, and thus 
gets a chance to pass judgment on articles prepared 
for publication before they appear in the paper, whereas 
the owner and the editor-in-chief, customarily, see the 
news stories only after the paper has been spread 
broadcast. If a story displeases them they can com- 
plain, but they cannot undo; nor can they with cer- 
tainty guard against continual departures from their 
views. Having issued general orders, they are com- 
pelled, as they cannot foresee any better than other 
well-informed men just what the news of the future 
will be, to trust to the judgment of the managing 
editor. 

The managing editor of a morning paper reaches 
his office early in the afternoon, usually at 2 o'clock. 
On his desk he finds copies of the evening papers al- 
ready issued, and having glanced over these he calls 
for the city editor and the telegraph editor, who tell 
him of the news in sight and give outlines of the work 
they have already accomplished. After making any 
suggestions that occur to him, he pays a visit to the 
editor-in-chief, with whom he discusses the day's 
prospects. When he returns to his desk he attacks his 
mail. Not unlikely, the first communication he takes 



38 Making a Newspaper 

up is from "An Old Subscriber," who protests that the 
paper is wrong on the tariff question. Probably an- 
other letter is from "A Reader," who says that he is 
glad that the paper is right on the tariff question, and 
hopes that it will throw hotter shot into the numskull 
opposition. A third may be from a man who says 
that the paper has made false assertions about him, 
and that he will bring suit unless there is a retraction. 
A woman trusts that the paper will, in the future, print 
less divorce-court news, while to settle a bet a man 
wishes to learn whether "openers or the whole hand" 
must be shown after a jackpot has been opened. The 
editor of a paper published in another city desires in- 
formation concerning the ability and character of a man 
once employed by the managing editor , and the editor 
of another paper wishes to make arrangements for an 
exchange of news on the occasion of a coming election. 
One of the correspondents complains that there has 
been a mistake made in his account, while another 
correspondent announces that he is tired of having the 
articles he sends in pruned to almost nothing, and that 
he is willing to retire from the paper's service. And 
so it goes. Almost always there are applications for 
situations and a liberal supply of "poetry." 

The commendatory letters are laid aside for pub- 
lication if they are worth it; those of an opposite 
character usually go into the wastebasket. Communi- 
cations which do not give the names of the writers get 
attention only when they tell where news may be found. 
The letters which ask questions are turned over to dif- 
ferent editors or heads of departments in most offices, 
but in some they are all intrusted to one man whose 
fund of general information and familiarity with books 
of reference make it easy for him to give answers. 



The Managing Editor 39 

The few letters which call for replies from the manag- 
ing editor are usually answered at once. 

While he is disposing of his mail, and it takes him 
a very short time to do this, for few of the letters re- 
quire full or careful reading, the managing editor at 
intervals receives from the city and telegraph editors 
reports which keep him informed concerning the news 
that is developing, and, through with his correspond- 
ence, he assumes active control. To everything big 
and little he gives attention. He plans with the city 
editor for the procuring of all the important news of 
the city, sends instructions to the correspondents, great 
and small, and to the reporters who are away from 
the city on special errands, advises the sporting editor 
and other heads of departments, like the society editor, 
helps assign the artists, passes on the drawings sub- 
mitted by the cartoonists, and under some circum- 
stances tells a few of the reporters how he desires them 
to go about getting the news which the city editor 
has asked them to procure, and how he wishes them to 
write their articles. A good share of his attention 
the managing editor gives to the telegraph editor, who 
submits to him many of the queries sent in by the 
correspondents, and he takes time enough to get the 
gist of almost all the news that comes from foreign 
lands. Several times a week, too, he summons the 
Sunday editor, both to make suggestions to him and 
to learn from him what he intends to print in the issue 
of his supplements on which he is working. Occasion- 
ally the managing editor deems it necessary to reject 
some of the articles submitted, but this occasions no 
delay, for the Sunday editor is not troubled by a 
scarcity of contributions. Every week he receives 
three or four times as much material as he can use, 



4o Making a Newspaper 

and he always has a well-filled desk to which he can 
resort in an emergency. 

And here it might be mentioned that the Sunday 
editor, who must not be confused with the literary 
editor, for the literary editor confines himself to re- 
viewing books and magazine articles and preparing 
material having to do with authors and publishers, 
considers everything that comes to him strictly on its 
merits. He is glad when he can accept the articles 
submitted by his friends, but he never knowingly allows 
friendship to interfere with his editorial judgment, for 
he holds his place only so long as he continues to fill 
his supplements with material that meets with the 
approbation of his superiors. As a rule he is best 
pleased when contributions reach him through the 
mails, although he is always willing to listen to the 
person who, having an article in mind, wishes to learn 
what he thinks of it, for this gives him the chance, 
if the article as outlined strikes his fancy, to tell just 
how he would like to have it handled. In most offices a 
large share of the contributed stories printed in the Sun- 
day supplements are furnished by the reporters, but 
this is for no reason other than that the reporters, be- 
sides being good writers and prolific writers, get to 
know the kind of material that the Sunday editor 
desires. The reporters have no guarantee that their 
work will prove acceptable, and every week dozens of 
their contributions are "returned with thanks." 

Not often does a Sunday editor write an article him- 
self. A story coming to his mind he either makes it 
known to one of his friends who is numbered among 
his steady contributors, or asks the managing editor 
to lend him a good reporter to collect the material 
and do the writing. Most of the reporters are pleased 



The Managing Editor 41 

to get assignments of this character, and in a few of 
the largest offices three or four of the best reporters 
and artists spend about all of their time working for 
the Sunday editor. An outsider who has a story 
which he desires to submit has to remember only three 
things. He should write his name and address on 
both the first and last pages of the manuscript, after 
making sure that all are numbered ; inclose stamps for 
the article's return in case it is not accepted; and in- 
close it in an envelope addressed to the Sunday editor. 

There are a few Sunday supplements which are 
conducted on the plan of a magazine, notably those 
of the New York Sun, which in every issue set an 
example for nearly all of the cheaper magazines of the 
country; but the average Sunday paper is a Sunday 
paper and nothing more, unlike anything else on earth. 
It might well be called a literary dime museum, for 
the editor presents not stories that will simply amuse 
or entertain, but only those which will attract atten- 
tion because of their absurdity; and the pictures, which 
sometimes cover whole pages, are, if anything, more 
unusual than the text. 

But to return to the managing editor. Now and 
then, in the course of the afternoon, he strolls around 
the office, giving a word of praise where it belongs 
or stopping to call some delinquent to account; but 
most of his time he spends poring over newspapers 
in search of material for new stories. Early in the 
evening he goes out for his lunch. On his return he 
plunges into the real hard work, and from then until 
the presses are set in motion a dozen things demand his 
attention all the time. The telegraph editor, for ex- 
ample, hurries up to his desk and tells him that a corre- 
spondent from whom a long story was ordered has 



42 Making a Newspaper 

failed to forward it, and still worse, makes no reply to 
the telegrams sent him ; the night city editor, who takes 
the place of the city editor after 6 o'clock, next getting 
his ear, informs him that a reporter detailed on an 
assignment from which great things were expected has 
returned empty-handed; next he learns that an office 
boy has come in carrying the rumor that a rival paper 
has half its reporters engaged on a big beat; a copy 
reader who has answered a telephone call tells him that 
a big fire has broken out in a distant part of the city, 
and that a reporter who chanced to be in the neigh- 
borhood says there will be plenty of work for an artist ; 
the night city editor then asks whether space can be 
reserved for a column-long account of an accident, 
word of which has just been received; word then 
comes from the foreman of the pressroom that a press 
is out of order, and that if he is to get the first edition 
printed on time he must have the forms earlier than 
usual; then comes a telegram from a country corre- 
spondent, who, having none of the instincts of a 
reporter, asks whether the paper would like a story 
about a bank cashier who has disappeared, taking with 
him $100,000 of the bank's money. The correspondent 
will be discharged for his poor judgment before many 
days have passed, but for the present he must be borne 
with, and he gets nothing more than a request to send 
a full account of the theft and flight as speedily as 
possible. 

The assumption is that the managing editor reads 
all articles before they are printed, but frequently he 
delegates the reading to an assistant, who, going over 
everything, lays aside for him important stories, those 
poorly written, incomplete, or too wordy, those which 
read as if they might be libelous, and those which are 



The Managing Editor 43 

not beyond doubt in accordance with the policy of the 
paper. When he has someone to do the sifting for 
him the managing editor contents himself with reading 
only the headings of the bulk of the articles. But the 
ones selected for his examination he reads with especial 
care. Both the managing editor and his assistant do 
their reading when the articles appear in proof form ; 
the proofs come to them by the handful, and the dele- 
gated reader, particularly, has to work with great 
rapidity to avoid falling behind. In the course of a 
day or a night one of these readers will scan fifty 
columns of print, correcting, as he goes, bad English 
and poor constructions, misspelled names, and, as far 
as he can, errors of fact. Typographical errors he 
does not mark, as they receive the attention of the 
proof-readers employed in the mechanical department. 
When the managing editor finds a story which he 
thinks is worth more space than it occupies, he goes 
to the man who sent it to the printers and asks him 
to have it amplified. If it is the work of a reporter 
who is within reach, it is returned to him to be re- 
written, and having no more facts, he is, if there is 
time, directed to get more information, frequently hav- 
ing his attention called to some phase of the incident 
reported which had escaped him. A story which the 
managing editor thinks is too long he turns over to a 
copy reader to be pruned, and across the face of an 
article which he does not wish to appear in the paper 
he writes the word "kill." A proof thus marked is 
sent at once to the room where the typesetting is done, 
and the foreman there destroys the article. While 
going over his proofs the managing editor occasionally 
rewrites a heading or changes a few words to improve 
an article, but finding it necessary to make many 



44 Making a Newspaper 

changes he cautions the copy readers. This doing no 
good, he engages, as quickly as opportunity permits, 
better or more careful workers. 

While he is reading, the managing editor watches 
particularly for libelous articles, and any story which 
arouses his suspicions he investigates, if possible ques- 
tioning the man who wrote it. Should he not be satis- 
fied after his investigation he marks the article for 
destruction. Libelous stories which do get into the 
paper make trouble for everyone who had anything 
to with them, reporters, copy readers, and editors ; and 
aware of this, rascals sometimes keep out of the public 
eye by looking mysterious when reporters call on them 
to inquire about their wrong-doings, and saying that 
while they do not feel called upon to explain offhand 
they will be pleased to do so in court if anything is 
printed about them. There is no paper which is in a 
hurry to attack a man, who, while refusing to answer 
questions, in effect says : "This affair is not all on the 
surface. If you print anything derogatory to my 
character, I shall sue for libel." Within recent years 
newspapers have found that juries are inclined to deal 
more harshly with them than they once were, and none 
of them likes to run unnecessary risk. A verdict for 
$50,000 damages against a paper exercises a great in- 
fluence over both it and its competitors, and verdicts 
for this amount are not unknown. 

With the aid of the night editor, the managing 
editor while he is reading proofs, receiving reports 
from the other editors, and issuing instructions, keeps 
track of the material sent to the printers, news as well 
as advertisements, so that he is able an hour or so 
before midnight to decide on the size of the paper, that 
is, of how many pages the issue shall consist. In 



The Managing Editor 45 

small cities the papers come out day after day with the 
same number of pages, but in a large city the number 
varies. If either news or advertising is scarce the 
paper may one day consist of only eight or ten pages, 
while under different conditions the succeeding issue 
may include from twelve to sixteen ; and to some extent, 
the size of the paper, strange as it may sound, depends 
on the weather. If a rain or snow storm is raging a 
small paper is the result, for then the managers of the 
big department stores cut down their advertisements, 
knowing that however tempting their bargains, there 
are many women who will wait for less disagreeable 
weather to do their shopping. An extremely hot or 
an extremely cold day also leads to a curtailment of 
advertising for the same reason. The size of a news- 
paper, too, varies with the season of the year. In 
midsummer, when many persons are out of the city, 
there is a scarcity of both news and advertising, and 
there is a decrease in the amount of advertising, except 
that of dry goods and department stores, immediately 
after New Year's. 

The rush in a morning newspaper office reaches the 
climax a little before 1 o'clock, when with the last copy 
sent to the printers the managing editor and the night 
city editor forsake the editorial rooms for the com- 
posing room and devote themselves to arranging the 
articles in the pages. First the editorial page is got 
ready. Then those devoted to news are taken up. 
Always in a morning paper office the first page is 
"made up" last, thus permitting very late news to get 
a place where it will not be overlooked. In an evening 
paper office the financial page is arranged last, as the 
quotations from the exchanges are received up until 
the latest possible moment; and because of this this 



46 Making a Newspaper 

page often contains important news which arrived too 
late to get a place on the front page. Routine news 
and that of little moment a managing editor, of course^ 
has put on the inside pages. The most valuable news 
almost always gets the last column on the front 
page, which is the place of honor, partly because the 
newsdealers, arranging the various papers on their 
stands, place them in such a manner that the last column 
of the paper topping each pile is prominently displayed, 
and partly because it permits a long article to run over 
on the second page without a break. While arranging 
the pages the managing editor pays attention to sym- 
metry as well as the worth of the various articles, and 
when he can he avoids placing headings that read 
much alike close together. 

Most managing editors content themselves with de- 
ciding where the important articles shall be placed, 
but a few choose to direct the entire "make-up" of 
every page, and occasionally they are assisted in this 
work by the paper's owner. There is one newspaper 
owner in New York who almost every night visits his 
office to assist in this part of the making of his news- 
paper, and on these occasions the proofs are pasted 
on sheets which are laid out on the floor, that he may 
get an idea of how the paper will look when it comes 
from the presses. If a story told along Park Row 
is to be believed, he made it a practice to walk back 
and forth over the sheets while making his inspection, 
until one night a libelous article escaped both him and 
the managing editor because he kept his foot on it 
while they were making their examination, and, ap- 
pearing in the paper, resulted in a damage suit which 
cost him several thousand dollars. Since then, it is 
said, he reads the sheets one at a time on his hands 



The Managing Editor 47 

and knees and sits on a stool to get his bird's-eye 
view. 

An office boy is waiting in the pressroom when the 
presses begin to move, and the first half dozen papers 
printed he seizes and hurries to the editorial rooms. 
There the paper is subjected to a close inspection, the 
headings and the date lines at the tops of the pages 
being scrutinized with exceptional care. Over a minor 
mistake there are sighs, but the discovery of a grievous 
error may induce the managing editor to stop the 
presses to have it corrected. When this occurs the 
man who blundered is in for a reprimand or a fine, 
and not infrequently for suspension or dismissal. 

The managing editor of an afternoon paper is not 
kept in suspense long before getting a chance to learn 
what his opponents have done. Afternoon papers are 
rushed from the presses into the hands of the newsboys 
without delay, and each office has in its service a news- 
boy who carries to it three or four copies of all the 
rival papers as fast as they are issued, while to make 
sure that no editions are missed the editors send office 
boys into the street at short intervals to learn what the 
newsboys there have in stock. But it is not so easy 
for the editor of a morning paper to learn what his 
rivals have accomplished. While the first edition of a 
morning newspaper starts to come from the presses soon 
after 1 o'clock, it is not until 3.30 o'clock, by which 
time the last edition has been printed, or is well under 
way, that the local newsdealers and the newsboys are 
supplied. The first edition, as has been explained, is 
intended for out-of-town circulation only, and in every 
office strong efforts are made to prevent first edi- 
tion papers from getting into the other newspaper 
offices on the morning they are printed. Those papers 



48 Making a Newspaper 

which are to go by mail are locked in sacks by trusted 
employees and hurried to the Post Office, and those 
which are to go by express are securely tied in 
bundles before they are taken out of the pressroom 
and piled into the wagons which carry them to the 
ferries and railroad stations. The drivers of the 
wagons are told at the time they are hired that they 
must under no circumstances open these bundles, and if 
it is found that one has disregarded his instructions 
he is immediately discharged. The only loose first 
edition papers supposed to be taken from the press- 
room are the few carried to the editorial rooms by the 
office boy, and these are guarded as if they were bank 
bills of high denomination. Every editor who receives 
one is held responsible for its safety, and they observe 
a hard and fast rule that none of them shall allow his 
copy to pass out of his possession. Even the reporters 
are barred from getting papers before they are dis- 
tributed to the newsdealers, and it is not considered 
good taste for a reporter to pay any attention to a 
first edition which he may see lying on an editor's 
desk. 

It is a pleasant fiction that the care taken serves its 
purpose. The fiction has it that in every office the 
managing editor and his assistants, their own first 
edition on the press, sit watching the hands on the 
clock, wondering what the other papers contain, and 
waiting until 3.30 o'clock to find out. In reality dif- 
ferent conditions prevail. Somehow, somewhere, 
there are leaks, and half an hour after a managing 
editor gets a copy of his first edition, he is found de- 
voting his attention to the first editions of all the other 
local papers, which in some mysterious manner have 
found their way to his desk. Where they come from 



The Managing Editor 49 

no one seems to know. They simply appear, and the 
subject of their appearance is one not referred to either 
by those who know that it is none of their concern — 
that is, everyone in the office except the managing 
editor — or by the managing editor who is directly 
interested. 

Possessed of the rival publications the managing 
editor goes over them to see whether they contain any- 
thing important not in his own paper. Some editors, 
finding that another paper contains a big item of news 
which they missed, have the story rewritten and with- 
out further ado print it in their next edition. But 
this is a dangerous proceeding. The story may not be 
true; even if based on truth, the facts may be distorted, 
and, most to be feared, the story may not only be un- 
true, but may have been printed in the hope that some 
other editor would appropriate it. Several years ago 
a certain paper in a Southern city, becoming convinced 
that a rival was rewriting and printing the dispatches 
which it was procuring at great expense, set a trap 
for the suspect by printing under glaring headlines 
an account of a mythical shooting affray in which a 
man of the name of DUARF and one of the name of 
EKAF were killed. The suspected paper rewrote and 
printed the story, but its editors doubtless regretted 
their action when the paper which had set the trap de- 
nounced them as pilferers and proved its case by show- 
ing that the shooting affray had never occurred, and 
pointing out that the names DUARF and EKAF were 
convertible into FRAUD and FAKE. 

Lack of time prevents the managing editor of a 
morning paper from inquiring into stories telegraphed 
from distant points which he may find in the rival 
papers, so these are allowed to pass unless they are of 



50 Making a Newspaper 

such moment that he feels himself justified in running 
the risk of involving his paper and himself in diffi- 
culties. When the story which it is thought desir- 
able to appropriate is a local one, a reporter is hurried 
out to find someone who will be in a position to say 
whether it is true or false, and generally the reporter 
can get the desired information and telephone it to the 
office before the presses are started for the last edition. 
The managing editor of an evening paper, with his 
numerous editions, defeated in any except the last one, 
of course, finds it easy to repair the damage before the 
end of the day. 

After he has examined his own first edition and such 
others as have come to him, the managing editor of a 
morning paper starts for home, leaving to his assistant, 
the night editor, or a copy reader the task of making up 
the second edition and searching it for errors when it 
comes from the presses. And here may be told a story 
about one New York editor who congratulated himself 
that while an elaborate system put copies of the rival 
publications into his hands almost as soon as their 
presses started, his own pressroom was so carefully 
guarded that it was impossible for copies of his paper 
to go astray. One morning, going home, he got on 
a street car, unfolded a surreptitiously procured paper, 
and was beginning to read it when, glancing up, he saw 
sitting across from him the managing editor of this 
publication. The discovery disconcerted him, but 
astonishment made him sit up straight when he found 
that one of his own first editions was in the hands of 
his rival. When their eyes met the men bowed, but 
congratulations were not extended. 

The early editions of a morning paper intended for 
out-of-town distribution exclusively contain much 



The Managing Editor 51 

special matter that never reaches the eyes of the city- 
population. There may be in them three or four 
columns of "Long Island News," a column filled with 
matters of interest to residents of Staten Island only, 
several columns of "Jersey Gossip," and so on. In 
the last edition all this material makes way for news 
that came in late, and stories of minor local happen- 
ings. Occasionally a managing editor who has come 
into possession of a big piece of news which he has 
reason to believe escaped the other papers, purposely 
holds it for this last edition, and not content with this 
goes into the pressroom himself when the edition is 
placed on the presses, has the doors locked and keeps 
them locked until his watch tells him that another mo- 
ment's delay will tie up the circulation department and 
cause disappointment for a lot of the paper's readers. 
Because of this there is always anxiety in Newspaper 
Row when it becomes known that any one of the 
papers has failed to appear at its accustomed' 
time. 

For the managing editor of an evening paper there 
is no gradual working up to top speed. In the office 
over which he presides haste reigns from morning until 
night, and instead of one climax there are as many as 
there are editions issued. When he appears ready for 
work at 8.30 or 9 o'clock in the morning, the city and 
telegraph editors and half the heads of departments are 
waiting for him, and all through the day they call on 
him at frequent intervals for aid or counsel. When 
they are not after him he is after them. Procrastina- 
tion is impossible. Decisions must be made on the 
instant, for the rule is "Get the news at all hazards." 
In the office of an evening paper which prints many 
editions the motto is "Get the news, right if you can," 



52 Making a Newspaper 

and the managing editor of one of these papers, when 
important news is concerned, will print a story upside 
down, or with the end where the beginning ought to 
be, rather than let a rival beat him by two min- 
utes. 

Every day the managing editor, whether he be on a 
morning or an evening publication, somehow finds time 
to compare his own paper in detail with the rival pub- 
lications, and finding anything to his paper's discredit, 
he starts an investigation to determine how this hap- 
pened. When the perusal of the other papers shows 
that one of them is printing especially attractive stories, 
steps are taken to ascertain who is writing them. 
Should it be learned that the writer is willing to make 
a change, the information may reach him that he will 
not be turned away if he applies for employment in a 
certain office, and if he is not anxious to move he may 
be told outright by some friend, acting as a go-between, 
that another paper is willing to give him more pay than 
he is receiving. The stories sent in by the paper's 
correspondents are also depended upon to point out 
possible additions to the office staff, the correspond- 
ent who furnishes a series of stories which the 
other papers miss, always coming in for considera- 
tion. 

Quick to find poor work on his own paper the man- 
aging editor is just as ready, and more pleased, to dis- 
cover that which calls for commendation. The re- 
porter who procures a good "beat" is sure of a word 
of praise, and employed on some papers he gets the 
additional reward of a cash prize. Occasionally the 
prize reaches $100, and $20 premiums are often be- 
stowed. Continuing this scrutiny without cessation 
the managing editor comes to know the worth of every 



The Managing Editor 53 

one of his men. The work performed by some leads 
him to mark them for dismissal, that of others tells him 
not to expect wonders of them, while that of still others 
tells him where he can look with profit when vacancies 
in the higher ranks occur. 



CHAPTER V 
UNCOVERING THE NEWS 

How a newspaper obtains the news of a large city 
is a great puzzle to most city residents. Only at long 
intervals do they themselves see anything which would 
be worth while telling about in print, and however ex- 
tended their list of acquaintances, they often go for 
weeks and months without having an incident that 
would be of interest to the general public brought to 
their attention by those directly concerned. Their 
neighbors' affairs are unknown to them, and their own 
they endeavor to keep secret. How then, they ask, 
does a newspaper get to know everything it does; 
when a murder is committed, when there is any one of 
a thousand happenings? "How did you learn of 
this?" is a question that reporters hear every day. 

There are some persons, as is evident from the ques- 
tions they ask reporters, who imagine that the news- 
gatherers wander around aimlessly waiting for some- 
thing to turn up ; and now and then newspaper workers 
discover individuals who have heard and believe that 
the papers employ reporters to patrol the streets, and 
keep other reporters stationed at busy corners, to watch 
for incidents worth telling about in print. Indeeti, 
the general opinion seems to be that the newspapers 
trust largely to luck to keep them informed concern- 
ing the city's activity. As a matter of fact, the ques- 
tion of luck rarely occurs to an editor. There are no 

54 



Uncovering the News 55 

reporters who stroll haphazard about the streets and 
none who has nothing more to do than stand idle at 
a street corner waiting for something to happen. Sel- 
dom does a reporter by mere chance come directly upon 
important news; and when this does occur the prob- 
abilities are that the news will come to the attention of 
his office in a short time, even if he pays no attention 
to it. 

The uncovering or discovering of news is largely 
done by persons who have no direct connection with the 
newspapers. There are a great many who knowingly 
act as news collectors, but there are more who are 
unwitting reporters, and among the latter are many of 
those who wonder most how the papers get their in- 
formation. Ministers, for example, do not think of 
themselves as reporters, but the newspapers view them 
all as valuable allies. Every time he performs a mar- 
riage ceremony a minister is by law required to make 
a report to the Board of Health, giving the name, age, 
residence, and previous condition, whether unmarried, 
widowed, or divorced, of each person he marries. His 
reports are kept from the general public, but some of 
them in roundabout ways get to the newspapers. 

There are few physicians who will willingly aid the 
newspapers by giving information about their patients, 
but physicians as a class are highly esteemed as fur- 
nishers of news by both editors and reporters. A 
physician must make a report every time he is called 
upon to attend a person suffering with a contagious 
disease ; whenever one of his patients dies ; when a case 
of murder, suicide, or attempted suicide demands his 
attention, and when he assists at a birth. He can be 
as secretive as he chooses, but he cannot keep his re- 
ports away from the newspapers. So far as results 



56 Making a Newspaper 

are concerned he might as well carry his information 
direct to the newspaper offices. 

An undertaker gives information to the newspapers 
as regularly as he is employed to prepare a body for 
burial. Before he can touch the body he must carry 
to the Board of Health a physician's certificate giving 
the cause of death. If the certificate is pronounced 
satisfactory by the authorities, there is issued to him a 
burial permit which he must show at the railroad 
station or ferry-house through which the body goes on 
its way to the cemetery and again at the cemetery 
entrance. An undertaker detected in an attempt to 
smuggle a body out of the city, or to bury one without 
permission from the proper authorities, would surely 
pay a heavy penalty. Every report the undertaker 
makes reaches the newspapers. 

The every-day citizen becomes a reporter, among 
other times, when he tells the police that he has been 
robbed or assaulted, asks for the arrest of anyone, 
makes complaint that a noisy neighbor keeps him 
awake at nights, applies for permission to improve his 
property, and when he notifies his business associates 
that he is insolvent. And the every-day citizens who 
act as reporters have for companions as newsgatherers 
a host of others who might be described as every-night 
citizens, among them burglars, sneak thieves, and pick- 
pockets. These, of whom more will be said, act as col- 
lectors of information knowingly and with a purpose, 
but it is doubtful whether they give a thought to the 
newspapers while doing it. 

Because they have so many newsgatherers who serve 
them without pay, the newspapers do not find it neces- 
sary to keep a direct watch on all parts of the city. 
Nor do they try to watch the population as individuals ; 



Uncovering the News 57 

as long as a man is merged in the crowd the news- 
papers give him no attention. Instead of watching 
the city and its people the newspapers devote most 
of their attention to a comparatively small number of 
places where it is made known when the life of anyone 
in the city departs from ordinary paths, or when events 
worth telling about occur. For example, John Smith, 
let it be supposed, becomes a broker. For ten years 
he pursues the even tenor of his way and except for 
his customers and his friends no one gives him a 
thought. To the newspapers he is as if he were not. 
But in the eleventh year he suffers heavy losses and, at 
last, his resources all gone, summons his lawyer and 
arranges for the making of an assignment. The lawyer 
posts off to the County Clerk's office, and a clerk there 
makes the necessary entries in the office docket. Here- 
in step the newspapers. While the clerk is writing 
Smith's business obituary a reporter glances over his 
shoulder, and a few minutes later the newspapers know 
Smith's troubles and are as well informed concerning 
his business status as they would be had they kept a 
reporter at his door every day for over ten years. Had 
Smith dropped dead instead of merely making an 
assignment his name would have reached the news- 
papers by way of the Coroners' office instead of the 
County Clerk's office, and in fact, while Smith did 
not know it, the newspapers were prepared and ready 
for him no matter what he did. They even had repre- 
sentatives waiting for him at the Morgue. He was 
safe only when he walked the straight and narrow 
path and kept quiet. 

For the most part the places kept under observation 
by the newspapers are those where office-holders serve 
the public. There is no one who is not looked upon as 



58 Making a Newspaper 

a possible helper, but the employees of the city, county, 
state, and nation are the papers' dearest friends. With- 
out these unsalaried reporters the newspapers in the 
largest cities could not get the local news they do with- 
out employing several hundred regular reporters each, 
whereas the one that does maintain as many as a third 
of a hundred in the city where it is published is an 
exception. After setting a guard on most of the public 
offices and office-holders, the newspapers detail a few 
men to keep under observation those people who are 
striving to become office-holders, or endeavoring to get 
friends into office, and this done set a goodly number 
to keep an eye on the semi-public centers of activity, 
such as railroad stations, hotels, steamship piers, and 
exchanges. It is only for that news which escapes 
all these watchers that the newspapers trust to luck. 
The reporters who do the watching are called "depart- 
ment men," and each one of them guards the same place 
day after day. There are in New York reporters who 
have not changed their station in fifteen years. 

In all large cities the newspapers keep watch on 
about the same class of places. A list made out by a 
New York editor would differ little from one made out 
in the office of a Philadelphia newspaper, and either 
list might be employed by a Chicago city editor after 
the making of a half-dozen changes. Some of the 
places kept under observation in New York are so 
prolific of news that the watch on them is never inter- 
rupted for a minute while they are open for the trans- 
action of business. Others are visited by the reporters 
at short intervals, one man looking after several of 
them, while those of a third class are visited every 
few hours, once a day, once a week, or at greater 
intervals. 



Uncovering the News 59 

The places in New York which are watched con- 
stantly are as f olldws : 

Police Headquarters. 

Police Courts. 

Coroners' Office. 

Supreme Courts, New York County. 

New York- Stock Exchange. 

City Hall, including the Mayor's Office, Aldermanic 
Chamber, City Clerk's Office, and Office of the Presi- 
dent of Manhattan Borough. 

County Clerk's office. 

To Police Headquarters and the police courts, be- 
cause of their close relation to the newspapers, separate 
chapters will be devoted. 

At the Coroners' office, which remains open day and 
night, the newspapers learn of murders, fatal acci- 
dents, sudden deaths, suicides and attempted suicides; 
assaults and accidents which promise to lead to deaths ; 
and cases of malpractice which threaten to result 
fatally. These things are reported to the coroners by 
the police, physicians, and undertakers principally, al- 
though the coroners may interest themselves of their 
own volition in any case that they think demands an 
investigation. The reports which reach the Coroners' 
office are at once telephoned to the newspapers by re- 
porters especially detailed for this work. These re- 
porters also keep the newspapers informed of the pro- 
ceedings when inquests are held. 

The kind of news found in the Supreme Court 
which has to do with civil cases only, needs no ex- 
planation. There are over a dozen courtrooms in one 
building, and every day on which court is held finds 
most of them busy. The reporters determine the im- 
portance of the cases that are to come up so far as they 



60 Making a Newspaper 

are able by inspecting the daily calendar, but because 
the brief announcements do not always enlighten them 
as to the news value of a coming proceeding, they 
question lawyers they encounter in the courthouse cor- 
ridors, and visit the different courtrooms at short inter- 
vals. Finding a case which is worth writing about a 
reporter takes notes and later goes to a room which 
is reserved for the use of the newspaper workers, to 
write his article. Divorce cases furnish material for a 
good share of the court writing done, especially on 
Wednesdays, when one judge devotes his entire atten- 
tion to undefended suits. Frequently he disposes of 
over a score of these cases in a day, and listening to 
the proceedings, the reporters can take notes which 
will allow them to write to their hearts' content. 

Newspaper reporters are not allowed on the floor of 
the Stock Exchange where the buying and selling take 
place, but they keep themselves informed concerning 
the activities there by watching the tickers or tape- 
printing machines which record the transactions. 
Each paper has a financial editor, under whose direc- 
tion two or three reporters work. This editor, who 
has an office somewhere in the financial district, fol- 
lows the transactions recorded on the stock indicator 
very closely, and is thus informed of the range of 
prices. Each of his reporters collects certain news for 
him, and with their contributions he is enabled to pre- 
pare the article which deals with the daily market. 
One of his aids looks after the news of the Produce 
Exchange, the Cotton Exchange, and the minor ex- 
changes, and one of them every day manages to visit 
a dozen or so brokers' offices, the United States Sub- 
treasury, and the Clearing House in search of items of 
interest while going about on special errands assigned 



Uncovering the News 61 

to him by the editor. Failures of banks and brokerage 
houses are usually investigated by reporters sent from 
the newspaper offices in response to calls for assistance 
from the financial editors. 

In the City Hall is found a good share of the news 
having to do with the city ; ernment. For the re- 
porting of special meetings men are usually sent from 
the newspaper offices, which leaves the regular detailed 
reporters free to keep constant watch on all parts of 
the City Hall. 

From the County Clerk's office comes news of busi- 
ness failures, the filing of judgments, recording of 
mortgages, and a great lot of matter of a similar 
nature. 

Those places which the newspapers watch carefully, 
but not continually, are as follows : 

City Courts (Minor civil cases). 

Court of General Sessions (Criminal cases). 

Court of Special Sessions (Minor criminal cases). 

District Attorney's Office. 

Doors of Grand Jury rooms when the Grand Jury is 
in session (For indictments and presentments). 

Federal Courts. 

Post Office. 

United States Commissioner's Offices, and Offices of 
the United States Secret Service officers. 

United States Marshal's Office. 

United States District Attorney's Office. 

Ship News, where incoming and outgoing vessels are 
reported. 

Barge Office, where immigrants land. 

Surrogate's Office, where wills are filed and testi- 
mony concerning wills in litigation is heard. 

Political Headquarters during campaigns. 



62 Making a Newspaper 

The following are visited by the reporters several 
times, or only once a day: 

Police Stations. 

Municipal Courts. 

Board of Health Headquarters. 

Fire Department Headquarters. 

Park Department Headquarters. 

Building Department Headquarters. 

Tombs Prison. 

County Jail. 

United States Sub-treasury. 

Office of Collector of the Port. 

United States Appraiser's Office. 

Public Hospitals. 

Leading Hotels. 

The Morgue. 

County Sheriff's Office. 

City Comptroller's Office. 

City Treasurer's Office. 

Offices of the Tax Collector and Tax Assessors. 

At irregular intervals detailed reporters call on other 
local United States officers, among them the quarantine 
officials, and at the headquarters of all city and county 
officers not in the foregoing lists, and every day the 
men who report real estate sales visit the leading real 
estate dealers and the auction rooms they patronize. 
The dramatic critics make daily rounds of the prin- 
cipal theaters and theatrical agencies. Meetings of the 
Rapid Transit Commission, the Chamber of Com- 
merce, and the Board of Education are always at- 
tended, as are those of religious, political, and labor 
societies, when news is promised. The Appellate 
Division of the Supreme Court is kept under observa- 
tion every Friday, the day on which decisions are an- 



Uncovering the News 63 

nounced, and on Sundays the sermons of well-known 
clergymen are reported. The sporting editor and his 
assistant keep in touch with the owners of race horses, 
pugilists and their managers, and others directly in- 
terested in sporting events, and reporters are always on 
hand to get the news connected with the arrival and 
departure of big ocean liners. From time to time, too, 
the city editors enlarge their lists of places which are 
to be kept under close observation. After a heavy 
snowfall the office of the Street Cleaning Commissioner 
goes on the preferred lists, as does the office of the 
Health Commissioner during an epidemic, or after an 
outbreak of a rare or particularly contagious disease. 
When a prominent man is dangerously ill, his house 
is guarded night and day. The lists, too, are tempo- 
rarily augmented when work in which the public is 
especially interested is under way, as when a new 
bridge or street railway is in course of construction, 
when it behooves the newspapers to keep in contact 
with both the contractors and the men who work for 
them. 

Believing that all their watchers are alert, the news- 
papers feel fairly safe so far as news of fires, accidents, 
murders, arrests, business failures, deaths, court trials, 
and similar occurrences is concerned. There is, how- 
ever, no place where they can watch for "Society 
News," scandal not disclosed in court, and gossip. 
What is known as "Society News" is collected by re- 
porters, usually women, who depend upon acquaint- 
ances for some information, and gather the rest by call- 
ing on persons who are "in society" and are proud of it. 
The persons who figure in "Society News" are gen- 
erally glad to see their names, their pictures, and ac- 
counts of their doings in the newspapers ; much more 



64 Making a Newspaper 

so than they would openly confess. They remember 
the reporters when they issue or accept invitations, and, 
directly or through persons whose actions they control, 
convey to them intelligence over which, when it appears 
in print, they often pretend to be angry. The society 
editors are not troubled by a dearth of material, but can 
pick from many offerings. The voluminous mail of 
the society editor is a time-worn newspaper office joke. 

For the collection of scandal and gossip each paper 
dealing in these things has its own system. Servants, 
for a consideration, make some of the scandals known. 
Jealousies lead to the disclosures of some, and in- 
telligence of others is conveyed to the newspapers by 
acquaintances of the persons concerned, who need the 
money they receive for their information. So it is with 
gossip. Sometimes a person who comes into posses- 
sion of a choice morsel goes from one office to an- 
other to find out where he can make the best sale, 
taking care, of course, to give only a faint outline of his 
story until he gets a satisfactory offer. There are serv- 
ants who add regularly to their incomes by revealing 
the secrets of the families which employ them, and 
there are more men and women than most persons 
suppose, who, ambitious to shine above their means, 
are glad to make a few dollars now and then by con- 
veying to the papers that are willing to deal with them 
any intelligence of which they gain possession. 

As it is widely known that the editors are willing 
to pay good prices for news the newspaper offices are 
visited by a continual stream of persons who are 
anxious to exchange information for cash. When 
there is a collision between ferry-boats in one of the 
rivers, two or three passengers at least are sure to 
start for the newspaper offices the moment they set 



Uncovering the News 65 

foot on land, and frequently a passenger who has 
crossed the ocean on a ship having on board some 
famous man goes direct from the pier to offer an inter- 
view with him and to tell about the incidents of the 
trip. A street car accident occurring in the business 
section of the city is pretty sure to lead an enterprising 
newsboy or bootblack to become a reporter for the 
time, and often the city editor will hear of the same 
accident from four or five persons. All the volunteer 
reporters are well treated by the city editors, and they 
are well paid for their contributions. For any news 
that is worth printing the minimum payment is one 
dollar, and for long stories payment is made at space 
rates. The man who furnishes a good story and 
promises not to carry it to other offices is sometimes 
paid four or five times the regular rates, and occa- 
sionally, to encourage him, a city editor will pay an out- 
sider for news which there is every reason to believe 
will later be sent in by one of the regular watchers. 
When the editor does this he makes a friend of the vol- 
unteer reporter, and at the same time provides a broad- 
side for the dilatory worker. The volunteer reporters 
are well worth cultivating. They serve as a check on 
the paid watchers, while often they provide informa- 
tion which would never be uncovered in the regular 
channels. Moreover, anxious to make sales, the 
volunteers hurry, and their information is generally 
"extra fresh." When, a few years ago, there was a 
bad railroad wreck in a tunnel leading to a station 
in New York in which a number of persons were killed, 
one of the papers, informed of the accident over the 
telephone by a volunteer reporter, was able to get 
several experienced newsgatherers on the scene five 
minutes before the representatives of its rivals ap- 



66 Making a Newspaper 

peared. When the late comers arrived the police were 
driving the crowd back, and it was not until order had 
been partly restored that they were able to get through 
the throng. The result was that the paper which the 
volunteer reporter informed of the accident scored a 
substantial beat. 

But valuable as are the volunteer reporters, who 
might be included in the "luck factor" in news getting, 
the paid watchers who engage in newspaper work for 
a living are the men to whom the city editors look 
day in and day out for their information concerning 
what is going on in the city. To gain an idea of the 
service performed by the paid watchers, one need only 
read a newspaper while keeping the places they guard 
in mind. A large majority of the local stories printed, 
when read carefully, show that they have originated 
or been uncovered in one or another of them. 

The detailed reporter who learns that something 
has occurred which needs to be reported for his paper 
is not always, however, the man who collects the 
details and prepares the article reciting them. Often 
the department man merely informs the city editor that 
a certain thing has happened, and having done this re- 
turns to his task of watching. Most of the important 
news stories are reported and written by a second 
group of reporters who are known as "general work- 
ers." These reporters, instead of having stations to 
guard, report for duty in the editorial rooms and re- 
main there occupying themselves as they choose, until 
they are summoned by the city editor and told to in- 
vestigate certain occurrences. How the city editor 
gained the information he already has does not concern 
them, and it is not customary for him to enlighten them 
on the subject. The city editor, for example, contents 



Uncovering the News 67 

himself with saying: "Will you look after the fire at 
Broadway and 80th Street?" and the reporter he ad- 
dresses posts off without delay. 

There was a time not so many years ago when each 
newspaper maintained a large staff of detailed watch- 
ers, but now in all large cities most of the watching is 
done by a corps of reporters employed by a co-operative 
concern of which almost all of the papers are members. 
There are in New York only two papers, one morning 
and one evening edition, both issued from the same 
establishment, which, not belonging to the local co- 
operative association, have their own watchers, and 
collect all their news unaided. The other papers have 
their own men stationed at only a few important places. 
The New York co-operative association maintains about 
sixty reporters, who are directed by a city editor as are 
the reporters employed on a newspaper. This city edi- 
tor aims to collect all the news of the city, and does not 
take account of the efforts of the newspapers. The 
articles his reporters write are copied in multiple, after 
which a copy is sent to each member of the association. 
The newspaper city editors use these articles as they 
are received, have them rewritten, or turn them over 
to reporters, to be embodied in stories written in the 
offices. When the association's men merely give their 
city editor the outlines of happenings, he has bulletins 
written and issued, and when he receives exceptional 
news he employs the telephone to inform the news- 
papers. 

The uncovering of the news is such an important 
part of newspaper work in a large city that a detailed 
explanation of some of the methods employed will not 
be amiss. Indeed, the explanation is necessary if one 
is to understand how the editors and reporters do their 



68 Making a Newspaper 

work. The methods described will be those used in 
New York, but as the newspapers in all large Ameri- 
can cities pursue about the same plan in getting their 
news, they may be applied to any large city in the 

United States. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE POLICE AS NEWSGATHERERS 

The most efficient unsalaried reporters pressed into 
service by the newspapers are the police. In fact, in 
the leading* cities, deprived of their assistance, the edi- 
tors would have to get along without a large part of 
the information they now present, and more than this, 
they would have to change their methods and adopt a 
good many of those employed in small towns, where 
a reporter's worth is measured as much by his ability 
to cover ground as by anything else. By the public 
the police are ordinarily thought of as guardians of the 
city who confine themselves to protecting law-abiding 
citizens against thieves, preserving the peace, and reg- 
ulating traffic. By the newspapers, which know more 
about them, they are regarded first of all as news- 
gatherers. That the residents of a city are unaware 
of this is not strange, however, for they possess no 
knowledge of a score of duties which the police per- 
form every day before their very eyes. How many 
persons in New York know that the police are required 
to inspect steam boilers and issue engineers' licenses? 
Probably not one in five hundred. It is likely that 
no greater proportion know that the police supervise 
the operations of pawnbrokers, junk-shop keepers, 
junk boatmen, cartmen, dealers in second-hand mer- 
chandise, and auctioneers. Most persons know that 
they issue licenses permitting the carrying of firearms, 

69 



70 Making a Newspaper 

but the great majority are ignorant of the fact that 
parades cannot pass through the streets without their 
permission. In the entire city of New York there are 
over 8500 policemen. In the boroughs of Manhattan 
and the Bronx alone, which are commonly considered 
as making up the city, there are about 5000, and an 
effort will in this chapter be made to show the im- 
portant relation they bear to the newspapers of the 
city. 

At the head of the New York Police Department is 
a commissioner appointed by the Mayor. His immedi- 
ate assistants are three deputy commissioners, and close 
to them is a chief inspector, the ranking officer of 
the uniformed force. Then come the borough inspect- 
ors. Next are the ordinary inspectors, of whom there 
are six for the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, 
each having charge of a certain section. The commis- 
sioner and two of his deputies have their offices in the 
Police Headquarters building, where are also quartered 
the department clerical force, the inspection and license 
bureaus, and the chief of detectives and his men. At- 
tached to the office of the chief of detectives is the 
collection of photographs and measurements making 
up what is known as the Rogues' Gallery. One deputy 
commissioner has his office in the Brooklyn Police 
Headquarters, and it might here be explained that the 
New York papers in ordinary affairs consider Brook- 
lyn as a separate city; for its news each one of them 
depends upon two or three department reporters. 
Ranking below the police inspectors are the captains, 
one for each precinct. A precinct commonly includes 
an area about a half mile square, but the size varies 
with the density of population. In each of these 
divisions is a station house, where the captain and his 



The Police as Newsgatherers 71 

subordinates have their quarters. The front part of 
the station house's main floor is fitted up as an office, 
and connected with it is the captain's private room. In 
the rear are a lounging room and a small prison, and 
upstairs are dormitories. Next to the captains in rank 
are the sergeants and below them are the roundsmen; 
ordinarily there are four sergeants and four rounds- 
men for each precinct. Last, if doorkeepers, patrol- 
wagon drivers, and matrons are excluded, are the 
patrolmen, the privates of the police organization. 

The patrolmen of a precinct are divided into 
platoons, one of which is always out in the streets, and, 
continually, part of another platoon is asleep or rest- 
ing in the station house; this second contingent, con- 
stituting what is known as the reserve force or the 
reserves, is called upon in emergencies. The section 
of a precinct which a patrolman guards is in police 
parlance his post or his beat, and he is supposed to 
watch every part of it carefully. To see that the patrol- 
men keep awake and do not shirk their work is the duty 
of the roundsmen. The sergeants watch both the 
roundsmen and the patrolmen and the captain watches 
them all, spending most of his time in the streets. The 
inspectors, observing results, are quick to make com- 
plaint when laxity appears, for continual disorder in 
their territory may lead to their undoing. Accused 
by a superior officer or by anyone else of having neg- 
lected his duty or violated the department rules, a 
policeman is placed on trial before one of the deputy 
commissioners, and if found guilty, is sentenced to work 
a certain number of days without pay, or is dismissed 
from the force. Not as often, though, as they would 
like, do the officers at the head of the department suc- 
ceed in ridding it of undesirable members, for most 



J 2 Making a Newspaper 

of the men they dismiss are reinstated by the courts. 
A commissioner at one time head of the department 
was not far wide of the mark when he said that it was 
easier to hang a man than it was to deprive a policeman 
of his place. 

At the time he is made a member of the force, and 
a man must pass a civil service examination before 
he can be appointed, a policeman is required to attend 
a school of instruction where he is taught how he is to 
perform his duties, and during this period the sergeant 
who acts as teacher impresses on him with particular 
emphasis that the one thing he must never forget is 
to inform his station house without delay whenever 
an accident, a fire, a robbery, a fight, or any event of a 
similar character occurs in the territory he guards. 
For a policeman's good he had better do anything else 
than be negligent or dilatory in making these reports. 
If found idling when he is supposed to be wide awake 
and watchful, he may escape with only a nominal 
fine; but when it is proved that he has withheld in- 
formation that should have been made known to his 
superiors he gets a sentence that he remembers. 

With the sergeants it rests to see that the patrolmen 
and roundsmen make intelligent and complete reports, 
and no editors dealing with newsgatherers can be 
harder taskmasters. In the absence of the captain 
from the station house one of the sergeants is in com- 
mand, and no matter where the captain is, a sergeant 
is always found in the main room of the station house 
sitting behind a desk on which is spread out a big 
book known as the blotter. This book to the station 
house bears the relation that the log-book does to a 
ship. In it the sergeant records arrests, reports made 
to him, orders either given or received, inquiries of 



The Police as Newsgatherers 73 

all kinds, the incoming and outgoing of patrolmen and 
officers, and complaints of robberies and assaults. In 
brief, in the blotter the sergeant sets down a running 
account of the precinct's activities, and time does not 
hang heavily on his hands, for reports and orders come 
to him thick and fast. But the precinct history is not 
merely written and kept locked in the blotter. From 
all the intelligence that comes to him the sergeant culls 
the important items, and using the telephone hanging 
close to his desk, transmits them as fast as they are 
received to Police Headquarters. The unimportant 
items he forwards, too, but they travel slower, being 
embodied in written reports which are carried to head- 
quarters every morning. There are some things which, 
coming to his notice, a patrolman at once makes known 
to his sergeant over the telephone. In a good many in- 
stances he goes to the station house and makes a report 
in person, and under some circumstances he telephones 
a preliminary report and later hands in a second one 
set down on paper. 

Suppose a policeman discovers a fire. If not fore- 
stalled, he immediately runs to the nearest signal box 
to send in the alarm. An alarm sent out from any 
thickly populated section in New York brings an engine 
to the box in not more than five minutes, and in the 
very heart of the city the first company must appear 
within three minutes if there is to be no complaint of 
tardiness made by the police, between whom and the 
firemen there is great rivalry. As soon as the firemen 
are on hand and there is no pressing work for him to do 
the patrolman telephones to the station house, telling 
whether the reserves are needed. Then he ascertains 
how the fire started, who owns the building, who occu- 
pies it, the probable loss and the amount of insurance, 



74 Making a Newspaper 

the names of any injured and the extent of their in- 
juries, and after asking a comrade to keep an eye on 
his post during his absence hastens to his station house, 
where he makes his report. This done, he returns to 
his post. The sergeant, before the entry is made in 
the blotter, telephones the information received to 
Police Headquarters, with which place, however, he has 
already had a conversation relating to the fire, as will 
be explained. 

When the machinery of a fire alarm box is set in 
motion the notification that there is a fire is transmitted 
to the Fire Department Headquarters, which is in East 
Sixty-Seventh Street near Third Avenue. From there 
it is sent to certain fire companies, Police Headquarters, 
branch offices of the newspapers near Police Head- 
quarters, the offices of several insurance adjusters, and 
to a few city officers and employees. Each box has a 
different number, and every number sounded calls out 
certain fire companies. 

Here it is worth pointing out that, contrary to the 
general belief, no section of the city is ever left 
unprotected because a big fire happens to be burn- 
ing. One reason for this is that there are quartered 
in many houses what are known as double companies, 
two complete sets of apparatus and two forces of men. 
When one company is called out the second simply 
makes ready to effect a speedy exit, although it does 
not respond to calls for assistance from the first fire, 
but waits for what might be called a fire of its own. 
And expecting a call the firemen get out in almost no 
time at all. Even under ordinary circumstances in 
daylight the engine of a crack company will, on the 
receipt of a signal like 122 — the men are so speedy 
that they occasionally have to wait for the completion 



The Police as Newsgatherers 75 

of the signal when high numbers are sounding on the 
gong — roll over the bridge that spans the curb in 
from six to eight seconds, and now and then five sec- 
onds finds the engine of the prize company out on the 
street. The second reason why no part of the city is 
left unguarded when a fire has made necessary the 
presence of many pieces of apparatus lies in the fact 
that with the sounding of second alarms and the out- 
break of fresh fires begins a shifting about of com- 
panies not yet summoned. From all the territory ad- 
jacent to that depleted come apparatus and men to 
occupy empty houses. Every fresh alarm calls for 
more changes until it sometimes happens that a com- 
pany finds itself occupying, temporarily, quarters four 
or five miles from the house to which it is accustomed. 
Of course, the shifting that comes when thirty or forty 
pieces of apparatus are engaged in fighting one fire 
makes each of the idle companies responsible for the 
safety of an enormous section of the city, but still no 
place is left without protection. 

As soon as a fire alarm sounds at Police Head- 
quarters, the officer in charge of the "telegraph 
bureau," which got its name before the introduction 
of the telephone, knowing, from the number sent in, 
the location of the box, calls on a private telephone 
wire the station house of the precinct in which it is 
found and informs the sergeant. Police Headquar- 
ters, having told tfre sergeant of the fire, expects him 
to furnish particulars in a hurry, and because of this a 
sergeant is always glad when the patrolman on whose 
beat the fire was discovered appears with his report, 
and permits him to supply facts and figures. Continu- 
ally the sergeants remind their men of the necessity 
of making prompt reports of fires, and the one who is 



j6 Making a Newspaper 

not speedy enough to suit his sergeant pays dearly. If 
a patrolman leaves a fire before it is out, or before 
getting all the information desired, he returns to the 
scene and later augments his first report. 

Should he be informed of an accident on his post, in 
which someone has been injured seriously enough to 
need the attention of a surgeon, a patrolman goes to a 
telephone and, calling Police Headquarters, gives his 
name and his precinct, tells where he is, describes the 
accident briefly, and asks that an ambulance be sent. 
The hospital nearest to the policeman is informed of the 
call by headquarters, and under ordinary circumstances 
the ambulance reaches the injured person within ten 
or fifteen minutes. In an emergency the policeman 
sometimes telephones direct to the hospital nearest 
him, but this is not customary. The injured person' 
having been taken away, the policeman loses no time 
in making his report to the station house. 

If a body is found in one of the rivers or the bay, 
the policeman to whose attention it is called gets it 
ashore; or unable to do this, secures it so that it will 
not be carried away by the current. Using a nearby 
telephone he then gives the news to Police Head- 
quarters, and through headquarters is sometimes put 
in communication with his station house, in which case 
he makes a preliminary report to his sergeant. From 
Police Headquarters an order is sent to the Morgue for 
the "dead wagon" to remove the body. The Coroners' 
office is also notified, and a physician attached to that 
office is detailed to view the body and, if it is deemed 
advisable, perform an autopsy to ascertain the cause 
of death. The policeman after talking with head- 
quarters gets a description of the body, searches it, 
learns who discovered it, and gathers as much informa- 



The Police as Newsgatherers yy 

tion bearing on the case as he can. He then goes to 
the station house and the report he makes there is 
repeated to headquarters. 

When a prisoner is landed in a station house his 
captor makes a report to the sergeant, even before the 
prisoner is placed behind the bars, and in cases where 
someone has been injured the news is immediately 
telephoned to headquarters. Ordinary arrests are 
made known to headquarters in the written reports. 

As travels the news of fires, accidents, the finding of 
bodies, and the taking of prisoners so goes that relat- 
ing to hundreds of occurrences. Before the officers at 
Police Headquarters there is constantly displayed an 
ever changing panorama. Not much of it is pleasing, 
for through it all runs a touch of crime, misery, and 
destruction, but it is never commonplace. Always 
headquarters has a pretty clear idea of how the town is 
moving, and while the commissioner and the other 
officers may not be kept so well informed about the 
territory over which their authority extends, and the 
people in it, as are the high police officers of some 
great continental cities, they do learn a great deal more 
than is generally supposed. Their official newsgath- 
erers are numbered by the thousand, and their unpaid 
spies, both men and women, are multitudinous. If a 
notorious criminal reaches the city his arrival is soon 
announced to the chief of detectives, and thereafter 
his movements are closely followed and his goings and 
comings are looked into with care. Should the wall 
of a building show signs of weakness and threaten to 
fall, the news gets to headquarters almost as hurriedly 
as does that of an accident, and a guard is set to warn 
away those who might run into danger. If a pedes- 
trian is held up in the streets and robbed of his valu- 



78 Making a Newspaper 

ables, or a building is despoiled, the detectives, within 
a few hours at the outside, are spreading their nets. 
Should a paving stone break and thus prepare a pit- 
fall for the unwary, some officer at headquarters hears 
of it before long and starts the machinery that will 
repair the break. When a dead cat disfigures a street 
the news quickly travels to headquarters and soon a 
scavenger makes his appearance. To attract the atten- 
tion of the police nothing is too great and few things 
are too small. 

In the light of the foregoing explanation it can be 
seen that Police Headquarters is the great news center 
of the city. And when it is further explained that 
part of the information which reaches there, includ- 
ing all that having to do with fires, accidents, suicides, 
and murders, and part of that having to do with bur- 
glaries, brawls, and arrests, is disclosed to the news- 
papers, one can understand how the newspapers find 
out many of the things they tell about, and why they 
are not put to the expense of employing reporters to 
patrol the streets. The press bureau at Police Head- 
quarters, where the news which there is no occasion 
for keeping secret is made public, never closes, and night 
and day, year in and year out, the newspapers, through 
the eyes of their reporters, watch its bulletins. Never 
is the watch half-hearted, either, for any moment may 
see displayed a bulletin which will lead to whole pages 
of newspaper writing. That they may be inspected at 
a glance the bulletins are written on slips of paper 
and hung in a window, as watches left for repairs are 
hung in a jeweler's window, and in the language of 
the reporters the bulletins or reports are always "slips." 
Incidentally, hanging behind glass, the slips do not 
disappear before all the reporters have had a chance to 



The Police as Newsgatherers 79 

look at them. For the convenience of their news- 
gatherers the newspapers maintain branch offices just 
across the street from Police Headquarters, and by 
telephones these offices are connected with the editorial 
rooms. Using the telephone the reporters communi- 
cate to their offices the bulletins they deem worth it as 
fast as they are displayed. In addition to a tele- 
phone, each branch office is equipped with a fire alarm 
signal on which is sounded every alarm for Manhattan 
and Bronx boroughs, and always at least one reporter 
remains within hearing of the gongs, for it is upon 
them that the newspapers depend for notifications of 
fires. 

To show how the news is handled let it be supposed 
that a fire is discovered, and that someone sends in an 
alarm from box No. 232. Almost before the per- 
son who sent in the call for the firemen has lowered 
his hand from the box the gongs in the Police Head- 
quarters newspaper offices sound two taps, three more 
after a pause, and two more after another pause. The 
complete signal is repeated twice, and usually before 
the second one has finished sounding the reporters, 
having referred to key books furnished by the Fire De- 
partment and thus learned the location of the signal 
box, are calling their city editors to tell them where 
they can look for a fire. Some city editors send a 
reporter in response to every alarm, but most of them 
do not have enough men for this and at some risk to 
themselves wait for more information before acting. 
Occasionally not caring to detail reporters on what may 
be useless errands, but not daring to wait, the city 
editors, using the public telephones, call shopkeepers 
shown by the telephone directory to be in the neighbor- 
hood of the fire, and endeavor to learn in this manner 



80 Making a Newspaper 

whether it is a serious one. But, whether they do this 
or not, they await with some anxiety the second report 
from headquarters. This is never long in coming, 
for immediately after making known the receipt of an 
alarm the reporters begin to watch for the bulletin that 
represents the report made to his station house by the 
patrolman on whose beat the fire occurred. This re-. 
port, when transmitted to the editors, tells them whether 
the services of reporters are needed, or whether they 
can dispose of the fire by instructing some office worker 
to write a few lines about it. Always, though, when 
following a first alarm, there comes a second calling 
for more apparatus, the editors hurry reporters out to 
get the news. 

In the course of a day and a night there are about 
ioo bulletins displayed at Police Headquarters for the 
inspection of the newspaper representatives, and of the 
number there are very few that will not in a pinch 
furnish material for at least a couple of paragraphs. 
Here are some of the bulletins complete except for the 
date: 



9th Pet. 7 A. M. 

6.30 a. m. Annie Brown, 20 yrs. 7 Clarkson Street, 
fell downstairs, broke her leg : sent St. V. hosp. 

P. B. 



26th Pet. 7.3O A. M. 

6.45 a. m. Look for William Smith, 78 yrs., slim, 
gray hair and whiskers, dark clothing, white shirt, 
lace shoes, derby hat; carried walking stick, stooped 
while walking; missing since May 10 from 989 West 
83rd St. E. B. 



The Police as Newsgatherers 81 

I5th Pet. 8.15 A. M. 

7.10 a. m. John Doe, attempted suicide, gas, 991 
East Forty-fifth Street, Bellevue Hosp. R. M. 

2nd Pet. 8.15 a. m. 

7.20 a. m. Body unknown man found off Pier 1, 
East River; about 40 years, 5 ft. 10 in.; light com- 
plexion, lace shoes, blue shirt, black coat and trousers. 

J. W. 

20th Pet. 9.IO A. M. 

8.40 a. m. James Smith, 15 yrs. 655 West 37th 
Street, knocked down 37th St and 10th ave by car; 
fracture left leg, St V. hosp. B. A. 

14th Pet. 10 A. M. 

9.10 a. m. Runaway horse, belonging Jones & Co., 
2200 Fourth avenue, stopped at 4th avenue and Thir- 
tieth street by Officer Blue. H. McA. 

F. H. 10.10 A. M. 

128 Franklin and Centre. Not. 6th Pet. 

22nd Pet. 10.15 A. M. 

9.40 a. m. Street car collision Broadway and 66tH 
St. Robert Williams, merchant, Hoboken, cut by 
glass, Roosevelt hosp. H. T. 

6th Pet. 10.30 A. M. 

10.10 a. m. Fire 916 Franklin st. unoccupied stor- 
age warehouse, owner Henry James, in Broadway, 
$300. R. M. 

A little explanation will make these bulletins clear. 
The first one, which comes from the Ninth Precinct 



82 Making a Newspaper 

station house, reached the telegraph bureau at 7 
o'clock. The accident occurred at 6.30 o'clock and 
the injured person was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital. 
The initials at the end of the report are those of the 
sergeant who sent it to Police Headquarters. The 
report which is headed F. H., meaning Fire Head- 
quarters, conveys the information that at 10.10 a. m. 
an alarm was sent in from box No. 128 at Franklin 
and Centre Streets, and that Police Headquarters has 
notified the Sixth Precinct station house. The last 
bulletin given is that submitted by the station house 
sergeant who received the notification of the fire. It 
will be noticed that twenty minutes after the fire was 
discovered, the sergeant, having received a report from 
the man on whose post it occurred, is able to tell head- 
quarters where the fire was, who owned the building, 
and what damage was done. 

Looking over the bulletins, the headquarters re- 
porters, all men who have proved their ability and 
know the city thoroughly, pick out the valuable ones 
with astonishing facility. Here and there a bulletin 
which to the ordinary observer promises nothing, they 
pounce upon for a prize, while others which might 
be fancied by an outsider they dismiss with a single 
reading. No little responsibility rests upon the report- 
ers, for the editors, although they complain when they 
are made to listen to worthless bulletins, never deal 
leniently with the men who make mistakes and with- 
hold the wrong ones. In addition to the press bureau 
the reporters stationed at Police Headquarters keep 
under observation the offices of the commissioner and 
his deputies, where transfers, promotions, and dis- 
missals are made known ; the detective bureau, whence 
come some of the best police stories; the inspection 



The Police as Newsgatherers 83 

and license bureaus, and the bureau of information, 
where they sometimes learn of the loss or the rinding 
of valuable articles, of persons missing from home, and 
the receipt of requests and information of various 
kinds from the police of other cities. The reporters 
always telephone bulletins to their offices, but getting 
long stories they sometimes write them and have them 
delivered by messengers. Reporters for the morn- 
ing papers who are stationed at Police Headquarters 
go on duty early in the afternoon, and work until 3 
o'clock the next morning. At 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing the reporters for the evening papers which print 
the very early editions begin a vigil which is continued 
until the middle of the morning, when they are re- 
lieved by men who continue the watch until late in the 
evening. Reporters for the other afternoon papers 
inspect the slips from 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning 
until their papers' last editions are printed. 

While thankful for what they get, the headquarters 
reporters are always wishing that they might have 
access to the reports which are kept from them. These 
they know are the ones that would permit them to 
furnish sensations every day. Of most of the bur- 
glaries, street robberies, embezzlements, and swindles 
which are brought to the attention of the police the 
reporters never hear, and the direct result is that the 
public is led to believe that the city is a great deal better 
than it is. For the police never tell anything about 
any of these things until they have made an arrest. 
And even then the truth is not always told. The de- 
tectives, who usually take all the credit for important 
arrests, make themselves out to be veritable ferrets by 
telling wonderful tales about following clews, while 
they carefully conceal the fact that they got their in- 



84 Making a Newspaper 

formation from some scoundrel who is a living refuta- 
tion of the nonsense about honor among thieves. 
There is no honor among thieves, at least among the 
ones known to the police as professionals. If there 
were, few, not caught red-handed, would ever go to 
prison. 

When a crime is reported to a station house the task 
of making an investigation is assigned by the captain 
or a sergeant to a set of men not heretofore mentioned. 
These are the precinct detectives, often called the ward- 
men, who, ranking usually as patrolmen, have no beats 
but are permitted to go around the precinct wherever 
they choose. They do not wear uniforms, but some 
of them proclaim their calling by dyeing their hair and 
mustaches a deep black and wearing half-inch soles 
on their shoes. Generally there are only two ward- 
men attached to a station house, but in some precincts 
there are as many as a score of policemen who wear 
citizen's clothing. On Broadway and other crowded 
thoroughfares there are always more policemen on 
guard than is apparent to the ordinary observer. 
Every captain has one wardman in whom he confides, 
and commonly, when blackmail is levied, this favored 
individual makes arrangements for the collection of the 
money. The wardmen are taken with him by a cap- 
tain when he is transferred from one precinct to an- 
other, and consequently it does not take him long to 
establish himself in his new territory. The ordinary 
patrolman rarely has knowledge of the doings of the 
wardmen, and half the people on his beat might be 
paying to have their misdeeds overlooked without his 
knowing it to a certainty. Told to take no notice of 
certain places he might well be suspicious, but sus- 
picion is not proof, as is learned by the persons who 



The Police as Newsgatherers 85 

now and then get the police force on the edge of re- 
form, but never get it squarely over. 

If a crime reported to a station house is of no 
great moment the precinct detectives labor alone, or 
assisted by some of the patrolmen wearing every-day 
clothing; but in an important case the chief of detect- 
ives details several of his men — most of whom rank as 
sergeants — to join in the investigation. These detect- 
ives are the real sleuths who shine so brilliantly in the 
newspapers. There are about 200 of them; so many 
that their chief does not know what to do with them all 
and would, were it not for the courts, lessen the num- 
ber. They are known to the patrolmen and the news- 
paper reporters as central office, or front office men, 
and among them are a few genuine detectives who 
possess great shrewdness, and are not afraid of hard 
work. Those who are not s competent, but cannot be 
removed from their places, are ordinarily detailed by 
their chief to visit pawnshops and junk shops in 
search of stolen goods. The pawnbrokers are com- 
pelled to keep a record of everything they receive, and 
on demand must display their pledges to the police. 

Early when they are making an investigation, the 
detectives, if they suspect habitual criminals, those 
who make a business of crime, summon to their assist- 
ance men and women of whom the public never hears, 
but without whose aid there would be few professional 
thieves and other criminals taken. These are the stool 
pigeons, the "every-night citizens' ' already spoken of 
who collect information for the newspapers. Sneak 
thieves, burglars, pickpockets, dive-keepers, footpads, 
or touts, themselves, they sue for favor by spying on 
other law-breakers. Prowling around where criminals 
congregate they keep their ears open for chance words, 



86 Making a Newspaper 

and coming into possession of information carry 
it straight to the detectives. Amateur thieves, un- 
known to their spies, the detectives catch, because the 
bad habits which lead them to steal place them under 
suspicion, and because, lacking experience, they do not 
go to the right places to dispose of their plunder. 

There is one policeman who deserves special men- 
tion. This is the sergeant, a man of no little import- 
ance, especially when he presides over the station house 
desk. Past middle age, as he usually is, he has local 
history at his finger tips, and his stories of riots, 
rescues, fires, and what not are worth hearing. While 
in charge of the desk he has power to release a prisoner 
brought in, where it appears to him that the arrest was 
made unjustly, and frequently he is called upon to act 
as a judge. In poor neighborhoods everyone takes 
his troubles to the station house, and the sergeant's 
advice, proved good by experience, is generally 
accepted. 

Day and night the desk sergeants, at intervals of 
a few hours, are visited by reporters, for some of the 
papers, not content with their Police Headquarters 
vigil, keep a fairly close watch on the station houses, 
assigning to one man the task of looking after five or 
six of them. These reporters, almost always begin- 
ners, tramp from one station house to another, stopping 
in each one to ask the sergeant if he has any news. 
A crusty sergeant will treat them with scant 
courtesy and give them nothing; a kindly one will 
give them encouragement and good advice without 
end, and now and then run the risk of incurring the 
displeasure of an officer of the department by putting 
them in possession of information worth making 
known. Getting an item, the reporters telephone it to 



The Police as Newsgatherers 87 

their offices. Sometimes a station house reporter will 
have two or three hospitals on his route, and some of 
them make occasional calls at the Morgue. 

In the year 1905, the police of the entire city of New 
York arrested 198,356 persons, of whom 158,470 were 
males and 39,886 females. The number taken into 
custody by the Central Office detectives aggregated 
3619, and 1534 persons, 105 of them women, were 
measured and photographed for the Rogues' Gallery. 
During the year 173 foundlings came into the hands of 
the police. Nineteen hundred and nineteen persons 
were reported missing of whom 1058 were on the "still 
missing" list at the end of the year. The police were 
notified of 693 suicides; they gave assistance to 473 
persons who had attempted suicide and to 11,010 who 
were sick or destitute; found open and unprotected 
2348 stores, 339 dwellings, 621 factories, 14 churches, 
and 1 bank; took notice of 2106 sudden deaths; shot, 
according to the official report, 2 horses and 245 mad 
dogs; issued permits for 1496 parades and 569 fune- 
rals; found 2360 lost children; arrested 1389 va- 
grants, of whom 696 were later committed to prison; 
conveyed, or had conveyed, to hospitals 28,568 persons, 
and to their homes 21,128; found 2170 animals 
astray, and reported 8486 fires. 

In the light of the foregoing explanation of the 
duties of the police, the collection of news and its 
dissemination, it can be seen that, were they to be de- 
prived of the assistance of the police, the newspapers 
would at once find themselves in a bad way. Murders 
they might hear of within a day or two, most accidents 
they would miss entirely; fires they might learn of 
through having reporters chase the engines; of rob- 
beries they would hear only occasionally; and of a 



88 Making a Newspaper 

multitude of things connected with city life to which 
they now give attention they would hear not a word. 
A reporter, before he can understand the fundamental 
workings of a newspaper, must learn about its relations 
with the police, and nothing has been touched on here 
that a reporter should not know. 



CHAPTER VII 

POLICE COURTS AS NEWS CENTERS 

Little less productive of news than Police Head- 
quarters are the magistrates' courts, the lowest crimi- 
nal courts of the city, in which are arraigned all per- 
sons taken into custody by the police. By law it is 
provided that the arraignment must follow the arrest 
immediately, if the courts are open at the time, and 
any policeman who holds a prisoner unnecessarily 
before taking him to court may be punished by a fine 
or by dismissal from the force. Through these courts 
trail the town's very dregs, and scattered in with the 
dregs there is occasionally found a highly respected 
citizen arrested for some minor offense, such as failing 
to have the snow cleared from the sidewalk in front of 
his house ; or maybe a bank cashier or a trusted clerk 
who has strayed from the paths of rectitude and 
been detected. The newspapers keep themselves in- 
formed concerning the identity of all persons who 
visit the magistrates' courts as prisoners, complainants, 
witnesses, or sightseers, by keeping a watch on them 
every minute while they are open for business. Every 
visitor is closely scrutinized by the reporters and none 
of the proceedings escapes them. To get his name 
into the newspapers through a magistrate's court it is 
not absolutely necessary for a prominent man to appear 
in person; his cook, his relative, or under some cir- 
cumstances an acquaintance need only show himself, 

89 



90 Making a Newspaper 

and the reporters will see that the prominent man 
shines in the reflected light. 

There are in Manhattan Borough six magistrates' 
courts, and in the Borough of the Bronx two. Offi- 
cially they are classed as District Magistrates' Courts, 
but in the newspapers they are called police courts, and 
holding that few persons know them by their official 
titles, the reporters have given names to them all. 
There are no jury trials in these courts. Each one is 
presided over by a magistrate who has power to dis- 
pose of trivial cases forthwith, and who, having heard 
the evidence, decides whether prisoners charged with 
serious offenses shall be held for trial in a higher 
tribunal. Prisoners discharged by a magistrate may, 
however, be indicted and rearrested, and an adverse 
decision may be reversed by a higher trial court. In 
each court there are, except on Saturdays, Sundays, and 
holidays, when a morning session only is held, two 
sessions daily, one beginning at 9 o'clock in the 
morning and the second after an hour's recess at 2 
in the afternoon. 

The magistrate's seat, near which are those of the 
court clerks, is behind a desk which, extending from 
wall to wall, is unbroken by a gate. This arrange- 
ment is never departed from, for were there a gateway 
all the ward heelers and a good share of the other 
neighborhood celebrities would every day insist on 
passing through it in an endeavor to get on close terms 
with justice. The desk behind which the magistrate 
sits is higher than the head of a person standing on the 
main floor, and wishing to speak to him complainants, 
witnesses, and lawyers step up on a raised platform 
known as the bridge. On the side of this platform 
away from the magistrate is a low railing, back of 



Police Courts as News Centers 91 

which the prisoners are arraigned standing, and unable 
to make himself heard, a prisoner has his words re- 
peated to the magistrate by a policeman who stands on 
the bridge. At the policeman's elbow is stationed an 
interpreter, whose services in some courts are demanded 
almost as often as a prisoner is led to the railing. 

A police court appears to have a fascination for cer- 
tain classes of the city's population, and among its 
more persistent visitors as spectators are many who 
live lives which will not bear investigation. When a 
pickpocket is arraigned, some of his acquaintances are 
sure to be on hand to find out how he fares, and a 
burglar in court looking over the spectators can always 
find a friendly face. Detectives aware of this keep 
watch on the crowd that assembles when it becomes 
known that a notorious criminal is to be arraigned, 
and it is not uncommon for them to make arrests at the 
courtroom doors. 

The crime and the misery that are uncovered in these 
minor courts are beyond the comprehension of all ex- 
cept those who have for long periods listened to the 
tales that are told in them. It is not unusual for the 
court policemen inured to suffering by years of con- 
tact with it to hear stories which draw bread money 
from their pockets, and occasionally they are com- 
pelled to listen to stories so revolting that they can 
with difficulty keep themselves from flying on the mon- 
sters brought to justice. Not a week passes that the 
magistrates and the policemen are not actually horri- 
fied. The newspapers rarely allow the disgusting and 
horrible stories which are laid bare before the magis- 
trates to get into their columns, but even with these 
thrown out they get from the police courts every day 
about as varied a collection of news as it would be 



92 Making a Newspaper 

possible to imagine. Supplementing the stories first 
brought to their attention at Police Headquarters with 
those procured in the courts, they could provide a pretty 
fair account of the city's happenings without going 
to any further trouble or expense. 

Before the newspapers decided to co-operate each 
one of them kept a reporter stationed in every police 
court, but now there are only two men detailed to 
gather a court's news ; one is a representative of the co- 
operative association, the other represents the two 
papers which do not belong to it. If they could take 
notes of a session's proceedings and do their writing 
after the adjournment the men could work independ- 
ently, but as they have to write their articles while the 
magistrate is sitting, they are compelled if they are to 
miss nothing to follow the proceedings turn and turn 
about. Now and then a magistrate new to the bench 
refuses to recognize the reporters as possessing more 
rights than the ordinary spectators, and has them kept 
outside of the railing which divides the courtroom ; but 
before long he realizes that there is a reason why privi- 
leges should be accorded them, and allows them to find 
places where they can hear what is said both by him- 
self and by those who come before him, in whatever 
capacity. 

The newspaper representatives appear in the court- 
room a few minutes before 9 o'clock. Previous to this, 
though, they report to their city editors in person or 
by telephone, and ask if there are any instructions for 
them. On the scene of their labors they immediately 
begin to interrogate the detectives and the uniformed 
policemen whose presence proclaims that they have 
prisoners to arraign, and questioning some from each 
station house and some from Police Headquarters they 



Police Courts as News Centers 93 

soon learn of any extraordinary happenings which 
may have occurred during the night. Knowing that 
reports of his exploits, appearing in the papers, will 
reach the officers of his department, a policeman is 
always glad to tell of an incident in which he figured 
with distinction, but not sure that he acted in a manner 
that will call for approbation, he is reluctant to talk. 
If they are repulsed by a policeman the reporters listen 
closely when the case in which he is interested is 
reached, and, getting the material necessary, write 
stories which will not add to his peace of mind when 
he sees them in print. 

The newsgatherers make their plans according to the 
early reports they get from the policemen. If they 
learn that among the prisoners there are some, con- 
nected with whose arrest there are interesting stories, 
they agree to center their activities on these, and to 
pay no attention to the trivial cases. Should their in- 
quiries, to their disappointment, force them to the con- 
clusion that they will not get an opportunity to write 
long stories, they go up on the bridge in search of 
morsels which in the aggregate will fill an appreciable 
space in the papers, even if they are not worth much 
separately. In a pinch the prisoners who are present 
in greatest number, those arrested while intoxicated, 
can be depended upon to furnish material for writing. 
There are arraigned in a court, daily, anywhere from 
a half-dozen to fifty of these offenders, and there are 
always some whose replies when they are questioned 
are worth repeating in print. 

As soon as he has procured material for one or two 
stories, one of the reporters withdraws to write them, 
leaving his fellow worker on the bridge to follow the 
proceedings. In most courts there are anterooms 



94 Making a Newspaper 

which the reporters are permitted to occupy, but in 
others they have no better accommodation than a 
small table which stands in a corner, and is largely 
monopolized by lawyers and policemen. His stories 
written, the first reporter returns to the bridge, and 
the other man takes a turn at writing. So they work 
while the session lasts, consulting together and com- 
paring notes and written stories, at brief intervals. 
But the reporters, were they to confine themselves 
to the official proceedings, would send few interesting 
stories to their offices, for commonly in the actual 
hearing details are omitted. What the reporters do is 
to rely upon the proceedings for main facts only, 
and procure their complete stories from the police- 
men, complainants, and witnesses. 

Let it be supposed that a burglar who is captured in 
a house into which he had broken is haled into court. 
The reporters, learning of his presence, get the ear 
of his captor, and after hearing his story turn to the 
householder, who will be present to give his testimony, 
and from him glean the information necessary to fill 
out their accounts. They now write their articles 
without waiting for the case to be brought . to the 
magistrate's attention, completing them probably about 
the time the burglar is arraigned. When the arraign- 
ment is made the householder testifies that the prisoner 
was captured on his premises, and the policeman tells 
briefly about the arrest, whereupon the magistrate 
ends the proceedings by holding the prisoner for trial 
in a higher court. Their stories already written, the 
reporters send them to their offices by messengers, after 
delaying no longer than is necessary to add the magis- 
trate's action. 

Occasionally, when the arraignment is slow in com- 



Police Courts as News Centers 95 

ing they send their stories to their offices without wait- 
ing for the hearing, and thus it sometimes happens that 
in one edition of a paper a person is, in view of a 
policeman's tale, set forth as a criminal of the worst 
type, while in a later one it is announced that he was 
accused unjustly, and was set free when the magistrate 
heard the testimony. None of the stories which the 
reporters collect in the courtroom corners are matters 
of record, and because of this a police court is a regu- 
lar incubator of libel suits. And the reporters are 
placed between two fires. If they write bare accurate 
accounts of the official proceedings and hold stories for 
the decisions, they are told in no uncertain words that 
details are wanted, and reminded that they are not 
working for weekly publications, while if they collect 
details and hurry their stories along they expose them- 
selves to the danger of involving their papers in litiga- 
tion, and ruining their own reputations for veracity and 
trustworthiness. 

In the police courts of Manhattan and Bronx 
boroughs there were 147,925 prisoners arraigned in the 
year 1905, and of these 102,137 were under the sum- 
mary jurisdiction of the. magistrates. In addition 
the magistrates in this year had to deal with over 
125,000 summons cases. The persons who want sum- 
monses are the bane of a magistrate's existence. He 
will not issue a warrant unless he has a fair amount 
of proof that an offense has been committed. But a 
summons he will issue on assertion alone, and know- 
ing this the tenement population avails itself of sum- 
monses. As soon as two women get in a tenement- 
house quarrel one of them posts off to the nearest police 
court to call the actions of her antagonist to the atten- 
tion of the magistrate. Then the alleged wrongdoer 



96 Making a Newspaper 

gets a summons, which is nothing more than an in- 
vitation to appear and give an explanation of what 
on the surface looks like a breach of the peace. In 
court she is neither regarded nor treated as a prisoner 
unless her explanation shows that the assertion of 
wrongdoing made by her neighbor was true, in which 
case the magistrate may order her arrest forthwith. 
About two-thirds of the summons cases come to noth- 
ing, but they take time, and on uneventful days they 
give the reporters opportunities to try their hands at 
dialogue and dialect. 

At intervals in the course of the day messengers 
sent from the newspaper offices call for the articles 
prepared by the police-court reporters, but important 
news the reporters telephone to their papers. Late in 
the afternoon, though, news must be of more than 
casual importance to receive attention from the 
evening papers. At the close of the day the police- 
court reporters go to their offices, rewrite their stories 
for the use of the morning papers, and after this, every 
other night at least, work three or four hours with the 
general newsgatherers. 



CHAPTER VIII 
STARTING THE DAY'S WORK 

Even knowing the places where news is looked for 
and the manner in which a part of it is collected, one 
must learn something about the routine of a news- 
paper office and the relations existing between morn- 
ing and evening publications before he can comprehend 
how a city editor plans his work and how he distributes 
and directs his reporters. 

In the office of a morning newspaper which publishes 
a paper on Sunday, and most of the big ones do issue 
Sunday editions, work goes on from one end of the 
year to the other without a break. For both editors and 
reporters Sunday is different from no other day, for 
while each man who receives a salary gets one day 
for rest out of every seven, the editors arrange to have 
an equal number away each day the week around. Al- 
lowed to choose for themselves the time when they 
shall stay away from the office, most of the workers 
select a week-day, having in mind the theaters and 
other places of amusement. The space-paid reporters, 
like the salaried men, are permitted to take one day 
off every week, but there is no compulsion about this, 
and some of them, anxious to make their incomes as 
large as possible, do not miss a day for months at 
a time. The largest morning papers do not sus- 
pend publication on any of the holidays. In a ma- 
jority of the evening newspaper offices there is a break 

97 



98 Making a Newspaper 

once a week, no paper being issued on Sunday, and 
most evening papers suspend publication on one holi- 
day — Christmas. For all newspaper workers in the 
large cities Decoration Day and the Fourth of July 
mean extra effort, as on these occasions there are 
parades, public meetings, and a great number of ath- 
letic meets to be reported. Labor Day is, with the 
possible exception of Election Day, the busiest day 
of the year. On it so many races and athletic games 
are held that the city editor and the sporting editor 
always have trouble in planning so that there shall be 
enough reporters to go around. 

When no paper is issued on Sunday, it may be con- 
sidered that in an evening paper office a new chapter 
is begun every Monday morning; and a responsible 
place is held by the man who on this, as on the other 
mornings, begins the work, lays the foundations upon 
which the editors and the reporters later build. He 
must be able to gauge with great accuracy the news 
value of any occurrence that comes to his notice, and 
it is essential that he be a very rapid worker. Usually 
he is one of the paper's copy readers, and where this is 
the case it often happens that many of the reporters 
think of him as a copy reader only, either knowing 
nothing about or failing to appreciate the important 
work he performs long before the majority of the 
staff report for duty. 

There is at the start only one source from which 
the foundation builder can glean material. That 
source is the newly issued morning papers, and while 
searching them he cannot help realizing that between 
morning papers and evening papers considered as 
classes there exists an exceedingly close relationship. 
He sees that those of one class continually obtain aid 



Starting the Day's Work 99 

from those of the other, and that in a sense the two 
classes move in a circle, one always beginning where 
the other leaves off. 

Having procured copies of all the morning papers 
published in his city, and when he starts to work very 
early he has to get some of them in roundabout ways, 
the foundation builder wastes no time before beginning 
his search. Stories of two kinds are in demand : first 
and most important, stories which are capable of 
development, as the account of a prisoner's escape; and 
second, stories which, while complete in themselves, 
are worth rewriting. Starting his work the founda- 
tion builder always attacks first the paper in which he 
expects to find the most news. He strives to get every 
sentence, but trained to read rapidly, and hurried as 
he always is, he moves his eyes down a column in a 
fraction of the time that would be required by an 
ordinary reader. When he encounters an article which 
he thinks will be of use he marks it by drawing a circle 
around its heading. Through with his first paper he 
takes up the one he considers the next best, and this 
process he continues until he has disposed of them all. 

To illustrate the methods of the early morning 
reader, let it be supposed that he comes across an ac- 
count of a political meeting. Should the article show 
that the meeting was devoid of interest and of no im- 
portance, he dismisses it offhand. Should he find, 
however, that the meeting, while devoid of sensa- 
tions, was well attended; that good speeches were 
made, and that the audience was enthusiastic, he marks 
the article while deciding to have it rewritten. The 
third possibility is the greatest. At the meeting, pri- 
marily important or not, one of the speakers may have 
made a personal or particularly violent political attack 



ioo Making a Newspaper 

on some man in the public eye ; there may have been a 
clash among those in charge of the meeting ; or again, 
the meeting may have ended in disorder. Whatever 
the unusual feature the reader pounces upon it. If one 
of the speakers has assailed someone, a reporter will 
have to be detailed to ask him whether he has been 
correctly quoted, what impelled him to make the attack, 
and whether he has anything to add to his reported re- 
marks. Also, the same reporter or another one will have 
to be assigned to get a talk with the man assailed, who, 
glad of the chance to defend himself, may be expected 
to talk about the motive of the speaker ; and the chances 
are that the article reciting what he says will prove to 
be at least as interesting as the one containing the 
attack. Sometimes, too, the men who presided at the 
meeting will have to be asked to express their opinions. 
In case the meeting broke up in disorder or there was 
a clash, the afternoon paper will have to ascertain 
whether there were any occurrences not recorded in 
the morning papers, what caused the row, whether 
there is a likelihood that there will be future trouble, 
and what the party leaders think about the affair. 
Sometimes the story has an end which leads to a police 
court, and there have been political meetings which 
made it necessary for the reporters to visit the Morgue. 
If the reader, through with the account of the politi- 
cal meeting, finds a story dealing with a big fire of the 
night before, he marks it, knowing that many persons 
will want to know more than the morning papers told 
them. There is always the possibility that bodies will 
be found in the ruins and it may be that evidence 
will be uncovered indicating incendiarism. The news- 
gatherer who will be sent to report the fire will find 
plenty to do; the owner of the building will have to be 



Starting the Day's Work 101 

seen, the agents who insured it, the tenants, the firemen 
sometimes, and the police almost always. 

Learning next that James Brown, the prominent 
banker, has been arrested for running his automobile 
through the streets at high speed, the reader marks 
the article telling of the occurrence, because everyone 
will want to know what happened to Mr. Brown when 
he was arraigned before a magistrate. 

A visiting prince is going to sail for Europe on one 
of the fast steamships. He must be seen at the pier 
and interviewed, so the article that tells of his 
approaching departure is marked. 

So is the one which says that a widely known resi- 
dent of the city is to be married. If the report is true, 
the man will probably be glad to confirm it ; if it is not, 
he may be induced to talk about busy-bodies. And if 
the man does deny the truth of the published announce- 
ment, the paper will have to look alive, for then there 
is a possibility that a breach of promise suit is brewing. 

A story dispatched from some town in a remote sec- 
tion of the state tells the reader that a much-respected 
citizen of the place has disappeared after having de- 
spoiled the bank of which he was cashier of so much 
money that the depositors are afraid the institution 
will not be able to meet its obligations. The story says 
that the missing man, it has been learned since his 
flight, was infatuated with a woman who once lived 
in his town, but was last heard of, say in Backville, 
Ohio, and that the police of Backville have been asked 
to watch for him. Here is a tale with many ends. 
From the town in which the bank is situated the after- 
noon paper will have to procure a story, giving the 
amount of the defalcation, the events connected with 
the cashier's flight, the time of his departure, and 



102 Making a Newspaper 

the direction he is thought to have taken. A talk with 
one of the bank officers will also be in demand, and it 
must be arranged to have a watch kept for a possible 
"run" on the institution. The Backville correspondent 
will have to be told to ascertain the whereabouts of the 
woman with whom the cashier was on such good 
terms, and if possible get her to talk about the thief and 
his flight; and this correspondent must also be in- 
structed to keep in touch with the police of his town, 
so that, should the missing man fall into their clutches, 
the paper will be promptly informed of the fact. In 
addition to these out-of-town ends of the story there 
are local features which will demand attention. The 
local police will have to be asked whether they have 
any reason to believe that the fugitive is striving to 
reach the territory which they guard, and the reporter 
at Police Headquarters will have to be instructed to 
watch the slips displayed there with more than ordi- 
nary care. Another local end to the story will be 
found in the financial district of the city. Some bank 
there is, in all probability, the correspondent of the 
despoiled institution, and a reporter will have to be 
detailed to ascertain whether the local bank will suffer 
if the out-of-town institution fails, and if so, to what 
extent. Also some of the officers of the local bank 
may have personal knowledge of the missing cashier, 
and so be able to tell something about his habits and 
name some of the persons in the city with whom he is 
acquainted and who might possibly know of his where- 
abouts. 

It sometimes happens that the marriage notices fur- 
nish the foundation for good news stories, so they are 
never neglected by the foundation builder. The name 
of a well-known or notorious person attracts his atten- 



Starting the Day's Work 103 

tion as would a diamond, and he reads every notice to 
the end to see whether any of the lovers went to the 
top of the Statue of Liberty or to some other unusual 
place to have the ceremony uniting them performed. 
It used to be that weddings of this kind were recorded 
every few weeks, but of recent years the crop of 
notoriety-seeking lovers has fallen off, and it is not often 
that a wedding furnishes a theme for the newspapers' 
humorous writers. Frequently, though, the reader 
does find announcements of marriages performed 
months or years before, and these he marks for the 
attention of a reporter who will be detailed to call on 
the married pair, their relatives, and the minister who 
performed the ceremony, to ascertain, if possible, why 
the wedding was kept a secret and what led to the 
decision to make it public. Almost always there are 
stories which would be worth the writing back of 
these delayed marriage notices, but they frequently 
elude the reporter's grasp. 

Other fields never neglected are the death lists. 
Here, too, the reader watches for familiar names, and 
peculiarly worded notices. Also he keeps a lookout 
for similar names, for when two persons in one family 
die at the same time, or near it, the public's attention 
must be called to the fact more pointedly than it is by 
the publication of the formal announcements. A name 
appearing in both the marriage and death notices al- 
ways arrests attention, as it probably indicates a death- 
bed marriage. 

How dangerous it is for a paid newspaper reader 
to overlook an item, or fail to grasp the possibilities of 
one he does read, is illustrated by an incident which 
occurred in New York several years ago. There was 
brought into port one day a handful of persons who, 



104 Making a Newspaper 

when picked up at sea while floating about in a lifeboat, 
made known an awful catastrophe. While plowing 
through a fog the vessel on which they had started 
across the Atlantic had collided with another vessel and 
gone down before many of the 400 persons aboard 
had had time to realize what was happening. When 
they were placed safe on land the rescued persons were 
looked upon as the only survivors of the wreck. The 
newspapers, of course, devoted whole pages to the 
disaster. They told again and again how the wrecked 
vessel, and another one the identity of which had not 
yet been established, had come together in the fog; 
how one had floated away and been lost sight of, and 
how the passengers and crew of the other who reached 
the deck had fought for possession of the lifeboats, 
the only hope of safety. For a week there was little 
else in the papers than news of the disaster. Just 
when the wreck news was beginning to get noticeably 
threadbare there arrived at a nearby port a storm- 
wracked, lumber-laden schooner which had for pas- 
sengers a half-dozen more survivors who had been 
blown away to the westward from the scene of the dis- 
aster in a tiny boat. No more of the wrecked vessel's 
passengers were ever found, although the ship which 
had collided with her and afterward floated away 
reached land after a long delay due to injuries received 
in the collision. The landing of the persons rescued 
by the schooner gave the reporters fresh material upon 
which to work, and they again wrote long stories, parts 
of which were now devoted to the heroism of the 
lumber-carrier's crew. None of the reporters who 
talked with the second lot of survivors and with the 
schooner's crew made much of it, but several of them 
mentioned the fact in their stories that the schooner, 



Starting the Day's Work 105 

after picking up the boat, had run to a certain coast 
town and there taken aboard a stock of provisions to 
feed the unexpected passengers. Reading a reference 
to this landing, one man whose duty it was to search 
for material remembered that on the day before the 
steamship which made the disaster known had reached 
port, he had seen and partly read in a paper other 
than that on which he was employed a brief item sent 
from this coast town saying that a lumber schooner 
which was then anchored offshore waiting for a storm 
to pass had late the night before sent a man ashore 
for provisions, and that it was reported that the 
schooner had aboard several survivors of a wreck at 
sea. Comprehending what had been hidden in the 
stray item so carelessly read, the newspaper reader was 
brought almost to tears; first because he had lost a 
chance to get a beat for his paper which would have 
caused talk all over the world; again for joy that no 
other reader, more keen and careful than he, had 
realized the item's worth and set in motion the ma- 
chinery which would have made known the loss of the 
steamship hours before the first lot of survivors were 
put ashore and set on high his paper's reputation, 
and to a lesser extent, his own. 

After he has finished reading his papers, the founda- 
tion builder, who in the office vernacular is the "man 
who reads the papers," goes through them with a pair 
of shears and cuts out the marked articles. Most 
readers while doing their reading use two copies of 
each paper, marking the odd-numbered pages of one 
and the even-numbered pages of the other, so that 
wielding the shears they do not mutilate one article 
while clipping another. 

After finishing his clipping the reader goes over the 



106 Making a Newspaper 

articles cut out, underscoring with a pencil the names 
of persons who must be seen by reporters, and inclos- 
ing in circles important paragraphs. This task com- 
pleted he begins to make out two schedules of the 
stories which need attention. In one, which is in- 
tended for the city editor, he lists all those which have 
to do with city happenings or have a local end ; in the 
other, which is for the telegraph editor, he lists all 
the out-of-town stories. To a story which calls for the 
attention of only one reporter the reader gives a single 
line, as "Broome Street Fire," or "Street Car Crash." 
But scheduling one which calls for the service of sev- 
eral newsgatherers, or is somewhat involved, he puts 
down a number of sub-heads under the main title. 
When he has listed his clippings the reader is nearly 
finished with one part of his work. To complete it 
he need only procure the "future books," big diaries 
in which are kept records of coming events, and add 
to his schedules a list of the events marked for the cur- 
rent date. The "future books" are under the direct 
care of the city editor and the telegraph editor, both of 
whom contribute to them many times every day. His 
schedules completed, the foundation builder is free to 
take up the second phase of his work. 

In the office of an evening paper which issues a 
very early edition the man who reads the papers be- 
gins work at 2 o'clock in the morning, and half an 
hour later the four or five reporters constituting what 
among newspaper men is known as the "gas house 
gang," because supposedly there are some gas house 
laborers who start to work at 2.30 o'clock in the morn- 
ing, report for duty. Almost always these reporters, 
who usually refer to their period of work as the 
"lobster trick," arrive sleepy-eyed and out of humor. 



Starting the Day's Work 107 

Some of them have left their beds as early as 1 o'clock, 
and it is unusual when they do not have tales to tell of 
long waits for street cars, and poorly cooked and 
hastily eaten breakfasts procured in miserable excuses 
for restaurants. To each of the early reporters, 
as soon as he has hung up his hat and dusted 
his desk, the man who is reading the papers hands 
several articles which are to be rewritten. Ordinarily 
the reporter is told only how long to make each article, 
but occasionally he is instructed how to start one, and 
which features to make prominent in it. So far as he 
is able, the reader distributes only stories which can be 
rewritten without fear of involving the paper in libel 
suits. Accounts of fires and accidents he knows are 
safe; articles having to do with arrests he holds back 
when he has enough other material to keep the re- 
porters busy; and attacks on individuals or companies 
he lays aside for the attention of the city editor and 
the assistant managing editor, unless they are of such 
moment that some mention of them must be made in 
the first edition, in which case he has them rewritten, 
but marks them "Wait Orders" so that they will not be 
printed unless released by one of the editors. As fast 
as they finish rewriting the stories given to them, the 
early reporters call for new clippings, and this they 
keep up until the foundation builder has exhausted his 
supply. 

The reporters do their rewriting at top speed, and 
there is a good-sized pile of manuscript waiting by the 
time the man who reads the papers is through with his 
morning papers and his schedules. Immediately he 
begins to edit the new articles, place headings on them, 
and send them off to the composing room, to be 
turned into type. In most offices the early morning 



io8 Making a Newspaper 

reader and his reporters make no distinction between 
local and out-of-town news, but in some the assistant 
telegraph editor, reaching the office about the time that 
the early reporters appear, joins in the task of reading 
the morning papers, looking, however, for out-of-town 
news exclusively, and, through with them, sends in- 
structions to a few of the correspondents and begins to 
rewrite the important articles that he has clipped. 

Usually, before the early reporters are nearly through 
with their rewriting, the man under whose direction 
they work, answering a call on the telephone, finds the 
watcher at Police Headquarters ready to give several 
slips. The early morning hours are prolific of fires, 
accidents, suicides, and raids on places where the law 
is being broken, and often the Police Headquarters 
man, having used the wires judiciously, is able to give 
a pretty fair account of the affair with which his best 
bulletin deals. If the watcher has enough facts a re- 
porter is directed to take them from him at once and 
embody them in an article. The headquarters watcher 
knows that the man in charge of the office is anxious to 
get a story which will bear a big-type heading and dis- 
play on the front page of the first edition, so often, 
not thinking his story quite up to the mark, he adds a 
few touches of fancy to improve it. The reporter 
who does the writing sometimes finding even the em- 
bellished facts insufficient for the kind of article he 
knows is desired, and not knowing of the headquar- 
ters man's action, allows his own imagination to soar 
a little. The result is that days on which the first 
edition fails to make prominent a local story are few. 
Should the headquarters watcher be unable to give 
details, reporters are sent out to make investigations 
as soon as the rewriting is completed. 



Starting the Day's Work 109 

Here it may be pointed out that there are times when 
the early morning men, in the light of past experi- 
ences, confidently expect certain kinds of news. For 
example, they are disappointed if they do not receive 
word of several suicides on Monday morning ; and most 
of these Monday morning suicides are laborers or other 
small wage earners. Commonly the stories are much 
alike. The suicide, receiving his pay for his week's 
work on Saturday evening, started to drink and con- 
tinued his debauch over Sunday; waking Monday 
morning unnerved, miserable, and penniless, with the 
week's labor in front of him, he cut his throat, or 
shot or hanged himself. Where the suicide is a 
woman, however, another method of self-destruction is 
generally employed ; drowning and the swallowing of 
carbolic acid are the common methods chosen by 
women. In the summer, suicides are always expected 
after a particularly hot night when sleep has been next 
to impossible. The reporters do not look for as many 
self-murders in winter as in summer, and they are 
mildly astonished when anyone jumps into the river 
while it is rilled with floating ice, for most persons 
who are bent on self-destruction give some thought as 
to what is to become of their bodies. 

But on especially cold mornings the reporters do 
look forward to an increase in the number of fires, due 
to the fact that householders on these occasions, in their 
efforts to keep warm, heat their stoves and furnaces to 
a point beyond the safety limit. The first real cold 
morning of the winter invariably sees many fires, for 
the reason that furnaces and chimneys have fallen into 
disrepair during the summer, and thus permit the 
escape of sparks which ignite woodwork or accumu- 
lated dust and rubbish. Almost every Saturday morn- 



1 1 o Making a Newspaper 

ing, too, there are fires started in the crowded districts 
in buildings occupied by orthodox Jewish families. 
These people, who are forbidden by their religion to 
build fires in their stoves on this day, their Sunday, 
turn the task over to old women outside of their faith 
who go about from house to house. The "fire- 
lighters," in a hurry, frequently coax the fires along 
through the dangerous method of pouring oil on them, 
and now and then one of them sets her own clothing 
ablaze. When this happens the first policeman who 
reaches the scene may find it necessary to summon a 
patrol wagon to remove the body to the station house, 
which is not unlikely the first station on the way to the 
Potter's Field. 

A person unacquainted with newspaper work might 
think that rewriting was mere routine, calling for no 
accomplishment other than ability to write rapidly, 
and that only the poorest reporters, the plodders, would 
be called upon to do this work. Not so. The men 
who do this rewriting without instruction must possess 
a lot of skill, and in the office of an evening newspaper 
which issues an early morning edition they are among 
the best on the staff ; a greenhorn could no more keep 
pace with them than he could with the managing edi- 
tor. Where an early edition is issued there is little 
time for making corrections and polishing, and the 
rewritten articles must come from the reporters in good 
shape. In the offices of those papers which do not 
print an edition until the middle of the morning, be- 
ginners often assist in the rewriting, but they have to 
be told how to handle every story turned over to them, 
which makes them little more than copyists. 

The men who do rewriting always condense, but 
they think little of this feature; their particular aim 



Starting the Day's Work 1 1 1 

is to give new turns to the stories turned over to them 
which shall make them read like real news and not 
like rehashed articles. An experienced newspaper 
worker can tell a rewritten story readily enough, but 
the general public, it is presumed, cannot, and if here 
and there an outsider does detect the touch of the early 
morning writer, he has neither cause nor opportunity 
to announce the fact sufficiently loud to make the matter 
town talk. Let it be supposed that there is to be con- 
densed into a quarter of a column a story of a fire 
which occupies a column in one of the morning papers. 
The fire, according to the printed account, was in a 
crowded East Side tenement. It started just before 
midnight from some unknown cause and a panic fol- 
lowed. The firemen rescued a score of persons, but 
after the flames had been extinguished they found 
three bodies in the ruins. As a number of persons 
were missing it was feared that other lives had been 
lost. A reporter unaccustomed to early morning work, 
rewriting this story, might begin something like this : 

"Three persons lost their lives in a fire in a tenement 
house on the East Side last night. The fire, the origin 
of which is unknown, occurred in the five-story brick 
house at 1981 Norfolk Street and was extinguished 
only after the building had been destroyed. During 
the progress of the blaze the firemen rescued a score of 
persons, carrying them down ladders from upper-story 
windows, and from the roof. The bodies of the three 
persons who lost their lives were discovered after the 
flames had been brought under control, and it was 
feared that a thorough search of the building would 
result in the finding of others. Had it not been for the 
prompt action of the firemen the death list would cer- 



H2 Making a Newspaper 

tainly have been a larger one. The bodies found were 
those of Jacob Cohen, aged 38, Morris Levi, aged 27, 
and Isaac Levi, aged 53." 

The trained rewriter, with an eye to the main 
chance, would construct his story on a different plan. 
Probably he would write an introduction much like the 
following, taking care to paragraph frequently: 



"Firemen were busy to-day searching for more bodies 
in the ruins of the tenement house at 1981 Norfolk 
Street, which was burned early this morning. Already 
three have been recovered, and it is feared that many 
more will be found, as a number of people who lived in 
the house are reported missing by their friends. The 
bodies taken from the ruins have been identified as 
those of: 

"Jacob Cohen, 38 years old. 

"Morris Levi, 2J years old. 

"Isaac Levi, 53 years old. 

"While the firemen continued their search crowds of 
persons whose relatives were among the missing gath- 
ered in the neighborhood, and repeatedly the police 
were compelled to drive away frenzied men and women 
who insisted on breaking through the fire lines to join 
in the hunt. 

"The origin, of the fire is a mystery, and the fire mar- 
shal will make an investigation. Some of those who 
visited the scene to-day declared that the blaze had 
been started by incendiaries. 

"While the building was burning the firemen rescued 
a score of half-dressed persons who had been trapped 
by the flames, taking them from upper windows, 



Starting the Day's Work 1 1 3 

and from the roof. A panic followed the discovery 
of the fire, and many of those who escaped unaided 
reached the street badly bruised, having had to fight 
their way through the crowded hallways and stair- 



Examples of this kind of rewriting may be found 
every day in the afternoon papers, although the more 
conservative journals do not strike so high a key. The 
rewritten fire story might appear to be exaggerated 
and overdrawn throughout, but when an analysis is 
made it is not so easy to pick out any one sentence and 
pronounce it false. Having reported tenement house 
fires himself the trained rewriter knows that certain 
incidents are connected with all of them, and he has 
only put down what he knows has happened. But try- 
ing to make the account of the fire fresh and so attract- 
ive to the purchasers of his paper, who want no stale 
news, he has distorted the facts just a little. He has 
made it appear as if the firemen were still searching 
the ruins, and as if crowds in search of relatives and 
friends still surrounded the scene of the fire, when the 
probable truth is that the firemen ascertained that only 
three lives had been lost a half hour after the flames 
had been extinguished, and that when they took their 
apparatus away the persons attracted by curiosity dis- 
appeared for the time, making it possible for the mem- 
bers of the homeless families to find one another and 
seek refuge with neighbors. The rewriter has only 
put down, as if it were continuing, what did take 
place in the past. 

An article which has to do with the destruction of an 
office building which burned without loss of life often 
allows the rewriter to start as follows : 



114 Making a Newspaper 

"Great crowds to-day viewed the ruins of the Sky- 
scraper Building which was burned early this morn- 
ing." 



Of course if the fire occurred much before midnight 
he cannot use "early this morning," but he usually 
manages to get "to-day" near the front of the opening 
paragraph. 

Occasionally a fire gives an opportunity for this 
kind of a rewrite: - 

"That all of the so-called fire-proof buildings are not 
proof against fire was acknowledged to-day by many 
builders and insurance men who viewed the heaps of 
debris which marked the site where the Highup office 
building stood before it burned last night. The fire 
started in the basement, and within two hours the 
structure was a wreck." 



There are few stories to which the experienced re- 
writer cannot give a new turn, and it is all the same to 
him whether he writes about a fire, a murder, a busi- 
ness failure, or the launching of a ship. He can write 
w T ith equal facility : 

"The police are scouring the city for clews which 
will lead to the discovery of the murderers of James 
Smith." 

"Experts engaged by the assignee were to-day set to 
work on the books of Brown & Jones, who failed yes- 
terday for $300,000." 



Starting the Day's Work 1 1 5 

"Hundreds of visitors were to-day inspecting the 
newly launched steamship Jupiter, which was anchored 
off the shipyard of Spars & Masts." 

Where an early edition is issued the rewriters aim 
to clear their desks by 6.30 o'clock, at which time the 
city editor appears. Thereafter they, as well as the 
reader, work under his direction. The arrival of the 
city editor is closely followed by that of the assistant 
managing editor, who, after looking over the material 
prepared for publication, makes up the first edition, 
and gives the word to start the presses. The assistant 
managing editor does not, however, have to make up 
every page before a paper can be printed. The edi- 
torial page, and those devoted to comic pictures and 
general reading not strictly news, are made up late in 
the afternoon of the day preceding their publication, 
and late at night, under the direction of the sporting 
editor or his assistant, the pages containing sporting 
news are made ready to be sent to the pressroom. At 
most, therefore, in the early morning the assistant 
managing editor must deal with three or four pages. 
The reader who began the day's work is allowed to 
leave at 9 o'clock, and the reporters who have done 
early morning rewriting customarily get away an hour 
later. When a city editor reaches his office at 6.30 
o'clock, he makes way for his assistant about noon. In 
those offices which do not issue a paper until the morn- 
ing is well advanced the reader begins work at 6 
o'clock and is joined within half an hour by the early 
reporters, who, like him, are permitted to quit at 3 
o'clock in the afternoon. In these offices the city 
editor, the telegraph editor, the copy readers, and the 
majority of the reporters start their day at 8 o'clock. 



1 1 6 Making a Newspaper 

Where an edition is issued late in the evening the re- 
porters are divided into squads which work late turn 
and turn about. 

On a morning newspaper the day is started by the 
assistant city editor, who reaches the office at 10 o'clock 
in the morning and immediately begins to read and 
clip from the rival morning papers and the editions of 
the evening papers then procurable. The city editor 
arrives at 1 1 o'clock and about an hour later the report- 
ers begin to appear. Having plenty of time before him 
and a larger force of reporters than is maintained by 
an evening newspaper, the city editor of a morning 
newspaper is not compelled to set men to rewriting. 
Wanting something written about an occurrence he 
turns the matter over to a reporter, who is supposed 
to make a thorough investigation on his own account. 
If the reporter chooses to glean his facts from the 
evening papers he does so at his own risk and keeps 
his own counsel. 



CHAPTER IX 

WHAT THE CITY EDITOR DOES 

Although every newspaper worker, be the place 
he occupies high or low, has plenty of difficulties with 
which to contend, there is none who has more than the 
city editor, the man who directs the gathering of the 
local news and supervises its preparation for publica- 
tion. Above him are the owner, the editor-in-chief, 
the managing editor and his assistant, and actually, al- 
though not theoretically, the business manager. Under 
him are all the local newsgatherers and the local copy 
readers. And both those above him and those below 
him look upon him as a fair mark. The managing 
editor, when anything goes wrong in the local depart- 
ment, when a piece of news is missed or when a poorly 
written or libelous story, or a weak heading gets into 
the paper, goes to him, either of his own accord or act- 
ing on a suggestion, and without beating around the 
bush, demands an explanation. The reporter who 
does not know how to get the news or how to write 
what he has got, just as promptly goes to the city editor 
and asks for detailed instructions. It is the city edi- 
tor's duty, he intimates, to set him right. Then if 
having been told how to proceed he comes to grief he 
declares vehemently, when called to account, that the 
fault is not his, as he simply followed directions. The 
copy readers, who edit the articles written by the re- 
porters, appeal to the city editor on a thousand pre- 

117 



1 1 8 Making a Newspaper 

texts, and are delighted when they can force him to 
commit himself. They would like to have him pass 
judgment on everything they do. 

The duties of the city editor, whose field embraces 
the whole city, and, in some offices, all territory within 
a radius of ioo miles of it, when viewed closely are 
seen to be decidedly complex. First, he must find out 
where there is news to gather, and this means that he 
must keep his watchers alive and that he must be able 
to tell just what is news and possess the ability to 
weigh whatever comes to his notice; next, he must 
direct the work of gathering the news; and last, he 
must get the news into the paper in good shape, read- 
able and accurate. How he is to perform his multi- 
tudinous duties is for him to determine, and should 
he fail it is not sufficient for him to declare that he has 
not half enough reporters ; that many of those he does 
have are incompetent; or that his copy readers fall 
far short of the mark. Making one of these pleas or 
almost any other, he is quickly told that it would be 
nothing more than play to be city editor under ideal 
conditions, and that a cheaper man would hold his place 
were it not realized that there were a few obstacles to 
be overcome. 

Because there is usually more news offered than 
can be printed, the city editor must be able at any time 
to sift out accurately and quickly the unimportant 
matter which may with safety be thrown away. But 
almost as important is it that he possess the skill to 
furnish, when the necessity arises, substitutes for news 
so cleverly gilded that the general public cannot detect 
the counterfeit, for now and then there comes a day 
when the world apparently goes to sleep, the good and 
the bad together. Ordinarily, when empty columns 



What the City Editor Does 119 

are filled under pressure, a paper makes thrilling ap- 
peals for more schoolhouses, a better water supply, 
cleaner streets, and a more efficient police force. But 
a particularly keen-witted city editor avoids these old- 
time wants and enables his paper to call for things not 
so often before demanded. The city editor who is com- 
pelled to work short-handed, and a good many of them 
are, is frequently driven to another expedient, that of 
having one man generalize and so gloss over the ab- 
sence of facts which should be presented and would 
be, were there available men to collect them. For 
example, when a heavy snowstorm strikes the city, 
there is news to be gathered at every railroad station, 
at every ferry-house, at the offices of the men who will 
have to superintend the clearing of the streets, and at 
several other places. Were they on hand the city 
editor would detail a half-dozen newsgatherers to 
report the snowstorm. But not having them he sends 
one or two men out to gather facts, and sets another 
who has a vivid imagination at work in the office 
to write page after page of what newspaper men call 
"guff." In half the time it would take him to go up- 
town and ascertain whether the trains from Boston 
were late, the office writer will turn out a column-long 
story, telling about the shivering crowds walking 
through the streets, the woes of the suburbanites de- 
layed in reaching the city, the suffering of the horses 
compelled to pull heavy loads through drifts, and 
maybe the fairyland-like appearance of the snow- 
festooned trees in the parks. This story, adorned 
here and there by a fact procured by the reporters sent 
out of the office, the hard-pressed city editor must 
print as a report of the storm. On an exceedingly hot 
day the office writer tells about the crowds around the 



1 20 Making a Newspaper 

soda water fountains, and the fat man with the wilted 
collar; and when there is a financial panic he never fails 
to harp on the white-faced brokers. A resourceful 
city editor can make suggestions almost without end in 
an emergency. 

If the city editor of a morning paper is a quick 
thinker, resourceful, and cool-headed, the affairs of 
his office will, of course, proceed much more smoothly 
than they would otherwise. But the city editor of an 
evening publication must be all these things to be of 
much worth, for in his establishment there is a con- 
stant rush and an unending strain on the nerves. He 
must keep himself well in hand, no matter what goes 
wrong, and be able to act without hesitation, for the 
man who can get out an extra edition within fifteen 
minutes of the time he hears of the event which 
makes it necessary, is in the evening newspaper 
world considered far more efficient than the man 
who requires seventeen minutes to get the same 
result. 

The rush in a morning newspaper office comes only 
once in twenty-four hours and is not, even at its height, 
worse than that which prevails in an evening paper 
office all day long. Yet the city editor of a morning 
paper enjoys no easy berth. He has more time in 
which to do his work, and he has more copy readers and 
reporters than has the evening paper city editor, but to 
offset these advantages, more is required of him. It is 
expected that his reporters, while making their investi- 
gations, will dig out minute as well as main facts, and 
that they will write smooth, well-reading stories which 
will appear in the paper unmarked by the slips that tell 
of haste; and when there is failure in any particular 
the managing editor is quick to complain. Held to a 



What the City Editor Does 121 

high standard, the morning paper city editor must re- 
main a particularly exacting critic. 

Whether it is a morning or an evening publication 
on which he is employed, the city editor always begins 
his day's work by inspecting the schedule prepared by 
the man who reads the papers, and follows this, in case 
there are no rewritten stories for him to look over, by 
reading fairly closely the clippings on which the 
schedule is based. The schedule and the clippings com- 
bined give him a clear idea of the news in sight, and 
after making any additions to the schedule which sug- 
gest themselves, he is ready to begin assigning his 
reporters. A competent city editor has all of his men 
accurately measured. He knows which ones are good 
at unraveling mysteries, which are only fair at rinding 
news, but can write entertainingly about what they do 
find ; which are good at humorous writing ; which, ex- 
celling in no particular line, can always be depended 
upon to do fairly well, whatever their task ; which have 
a special knowledge of business, and are therefore 
fitted to report failures or the starting of new ventures ; 
which understand mechanics ; which have studied medi- 
cine or law; in short, he can tell on what kind of an 
incident each man can do his best, and therefore, which 
man can best handle any story that is to be reported. 

When he distributes his newsgatherers to the best 
advantage, a city editor proves himself competent in 
one part of his work at least, for it can easily be seen 
that a staff of excellent reporters might be assigned in 
such a manner that not one of them would be able to do 
his best. The prize humorous writer, if he were un- 
familiar with police work, would make a sorry spectacle 
of himself and his paper were he compelled to match 
his wits against those of the rival reporters and the 



12 2 Making a Newspaper 

detectives engaged in trying to clear up a murder mys- 
tery, and he would probably do almost as poorly were 
he sent to report the trial trip of a new warship. The 
reporter trained only to collect the news of the steam- 
ships and the shipping offices would certainly flounder 
were he detailed to report a wedding, and the man who 
customarily gathered court news, were he sent to 
report a big fire, might do even worse. 

Among the New York newspaper workers a story 
is told which well illustrates the possibilities of a mix- 
up in the reporters' room. A man, who had had no 
experience even as a reporter, was through some mis- 
understanding taken from the business office of a cer- 
tain paper and installed as its city editor. On the 
morning that he assumed the duties of his new place he 
assembled the newsgatherers, and having asked each 
man to hand in his name written on a slip of paper, 
arranged the slips alphabetically and began to give out 
the assignments. The reporter whose name happened 
to come first, a novice, was detailed to report a con- 
ference of political leaders, the important event of the 
day; one of the sporting editor's assistants was told 
to investigate a highway robbery, and a court reporter 
was instructed to report a public trial of a newly in- 
vented fire-engine. Scarce a man got the kind of work 
to which he was accustomed, but grasping the humor 
of the situation they all kept quiet, until the acknowl- 
edged leader of the staff, an excellent newsgatherer 
and clever writer, whose name happened to come at 
the end of the list, was ordered to look into the rumor 
that a little girl living in the outlying district above 
the Harlem River had been bitten by a mad dog. Then 
there was an explosion. The new city editor, instead 
of becoming angry, asked for an explanation, and when 



What the City Editor Does 123 

it was forthcoming, with the aid of the copy readers 
made a redistribution that was more judicious. Before 
the day was over, too, he sought an interview with the 
owner of the paper, and after explaining that a mistake 
had been made was, much to his relief, allowed to go 
back to his old place in the business office. 

Customarily the city editor deals with the department 
men first. Summoning them one at a time, he tells 
them of any news that is expected to develop in their 
territory and gets them out of the office without delay. 
Then he turns to the general workers. These men have 
served apprenticeships in the ranks of the department 
workers and most of them are capable of reporting 
in a passable manner anything from a fire to a wed- 
ding, although each one has a specialty. To each re- 
porter he sends out the city editor hands the clippings 
having to do with the story that is to be investigated, 
and frequently he points out features which he desires 
shall receive special attention. As the reporters are 
assigned the city editor writes their names on his 
schedule opposite the stories on which he details them, 
so that at any moment he can tell on what task each 
man is engaged, and to some extent how soon he may 
be expected to reappear. In an evening newspaper 
office three or four good men are retained to write 
stories sent in over the telephone or submitted by the 
newsgathering association. In a morning paper office 
two good men are held for emergencies and to write 
from the telephone; one, who, after having had an 
afternoon assignment, works in the office from 8 o'clock 
until midnight or a little after, is called the "short wait 
man"; the other, who does not report for duty until 
6 o'clock and remains until 3 o'clock in the morning, 
is known as the "long wait man." 



1 24 Making a Newspaper 

A reporter, when he returns from an assignment, 
immediately goes to the city editor and makes an oral 
report, explaining briefly but comprehensively what he 
has accomplished, whereupon the city editor, weigh- 
ing the story and giving a thought to the pressure on 
the paper's columns, tells him how long he shall make 
his article, sometimes adding a few words relative to 
the points that are to be made prominent in it. In the 
language of the newspaper offices, "what the city editor 
says about a story goes." Asking for half a column 
he expects neither more nor less and he tolerates no 
presumption; the newsgatherers, are, however, ex- 
pected to speak up if they think that their oral reports 
have not been clearly understood. If there is any de- 
parture from his instructions, the city editor is in a 
position to discover it quickly, for every article written 
by the reporters goes to him for its first inspection. 
In a morning paper office most of the articles are car- 
ried to the city editor's desk complete ; in the office of 
an evening paper a great many of them reach him a 
page or two at a time, for where editions follow one 
another closely the stories must be hurried through to 
the composing room without delay. Not often does 
the city editor give an article written by a trustworthy 
reporter a careful reading. Commonly he only glances 
through it. But this reading means much to the re- 
porter, for finding a weak introduction or several long, 
involved sentences, or discovering that instructions 
have been disobeyed, the editor hands the article back 
to be rewritten. The articles which come up to re- 
quirements he passes over to the copy readers to be 
edited, occasionally calling their attention to an error 
or an awkward sentence, but more often contenting 
himself with telling them how long the articles are to 



What the City Editor Docs 125 

be. In an evening paper office there are anywhere 
from three to seven local copy readers employed. 
They sit in the reporters' room, grouped around a large 
desk, and where many editions are printed the assistant 
city editor shares their desk with them and acts as a 
head copy reader. Usually the city editor of an 
evening paper has his desk in the reporters' room, close 
to the copy readers. On a morning paper there are 
often as many as a dozen local copy readers, and gen- 
erally the city editor has a private office. 

Wherever he sits, the city editor keeps close watch 
on the telephone on his desk, for through it he is kept 
in touch with all parts of the city. It yields him 
dozens of small prizes every hour, and he is never sure 
when its bell rings that it is not going to bestow on 
him a story which will far outshine anything in his 
experience. Knowing how the reporters at Police 
Headquarters and elsewhere watch for news, one can 
understand how the city editor looks upon his tele- 
phone. Each watcher, from a great mass of material, 
gleans a few gems. From the city editor's telephone 
come only gems, or at least, what to the watchers look 
like gems. 

It might be thought that having got all of his re- 
porters out of the office promptly, each one bent on an 
errand he was well qualified to perform, the city editor 
would feel relieved. If he does, it is to a very limited 
extent, for his real worries, he well knows, are to come. 
About the time that his last man has reached the street 
and has become lost in the crowd, the telephone bell 
rings and one of the watchers gives notice of a fire or 
an accident. No sooner has the city editor added the 
item to his schedule than he has to turn to listen to a 
question asked by a copy reader who is editing an article 



1 26 Making a Newspaper 

handed in by a reporter who, late the day before, had 
been assigned to get an interview; the copy reader is 
perhaps a little dubious about the accuracy of the inter- 
view, and is willing to shift the responsibility for its 
appearance. The city editor sets him right and is 
about to pick up a letter just laid on his desk when the 
telephone rings again. This time one of the police- 
court reporters is on the wire with an important story 
about a burglary. One of the men kept in the office 
is directed to take the facts and "write them for all 
they are worth." Next comes word from the coroners' 
office that a well-known man has died suddenly, and 
the city editor, after adding this to his schedule, and 
glancing at the clock, calls another inside man and 
tells him to look in the "morgue" and see if he can find 
material enough for a quarter of a column obituary 
notice. The "morgue," it might be explained, is the 
office cabinet-repository for clippings. Usually it is 
under the care of the assistant city editor or one of the 
copy readers, and into it go all clippings that seem 
to be worth preserving. The contributions are filed 
in labeled envelopes arranged in lettered drawers, so 
that it takes only a few moments to find anything 
desired, provided, of course there is anything on hand. 
Frequently, when it becomes known that a prominent 
man is dangerously ill, his obituary is written and filed, 
and in a great many offices the lives of the President, 
the Pope, the King of England, and the Czar of Russia 
are kept "standing" in type. 

Probably, while the city editor is wondering how 
he is going to cover the new items on his schedule, 
the telephone rings again and he hears of a murder, 
and this is perhaps followed by word of a street car 
collision in which several persons were hurt. With so 



What the City Editor Does 127 

many calls waiting for attention, it is little wonder if 
the city editor becomes restless. Sometimes, deciding 
to take a chance, he telephones one of the watchers to 
leave his station long enough to get a story in his 
neighborhood, but only in a grave emergency will he 
send out the men held at the office to write news re- 
ceived over the telephone. Their absence throws addi- 
tional burdens on the copy readers, who at best work 
under pressure, and no matter what news is calling he 
has no assurance that the next minute will not find 
him listening to far more insistent calls. 

If his paper prints pictures, and the use of illustra- 
tions is growing, for it has been proved beyond a doubt 
that they are acceptable to readers, the city editor's 
cares are increased, for there dare be no delay in getting 
the photographers and artists into action. If there is 
an accident a reporter reaching the scene an hour, or 
for that matter, several hours later, can find plenty 
of persons ready to give him the information he de- 
sires; it makes no difference to him that the injured 
persons have been taken to the hospitals and that the 
wreckage has been cleared away. Not so with the 
photographer. His camera will record only what is be- 
fore it, and a word painting is of no more service to him 
than would be a recitation of a multiplication table. 
Arriving too late the photographer might almost as 
well not arrive at all, for a picture of a quiet street, 
even bearing the explanation that the street has re- 
cently been the scene of an atrocious murder or a 
collision in which a dozen persons were hurt, is far 
from exciting; nor will a picture of a wide expanse of 
water attract much notice, although the text announce 
that under the water lies what remains of a wrecked 
steamboat. The pencil artists are not bound as are 



128 Making a Newspaper 

the photographers, for they can make use of descrip- 
tions, and in emergencies call upon their imaginations, 
but with them, too, the best results are attained when 
they view the scene while it contains the things that 
make it worthy of attention. Where a paper makes a 
specialty of illustrations, the city editor searches every 
bit of intelligence that comes to him for pictorial pos- 
sibilities, and confronted by big news, may assign his 
artists and photographers before he does his reporters. 
The highest-class picture-makers, the cartoonists, are 
accountable not to the city editor but to the managing 
editor. Commonly, they plan as well as execute their 
drawings, getting their ideas through extended and 
careful newspaper reading, but the managing editor's 
suggestions they have to accept as commands, and they 
have to submit all their work for his inspection. Usu- 
ally they submit rough sketches to him first, and try 
again if he disapproves of their prospective pictures. 

Every city editor is glad to get his men back into the 
office, but where an evening paper is published the 
city editor keeps a particularly close watch on the door. 
From the time a reporter reaches the office on his re- 
turn from an assignment, not more than a minute 
elapses until he is at work at his desk, provided, of 
course, that he has gathered information worth pub- 
lishing ; and wishing to keep in the good graces of the 
man who directs the newsgatherers, he writes at good 
speed. But however fast a man is turning out copy he 
is not surprised if the city editor begs him to hurry. 
Half the time a reporter on an evening paper, writing 
a long article, is told before he is anywhere nearly 
through, that another story is waiting for him, and 
often he is informed what his next assignment will 
be before he has begun to write the story he has on 



What the City Editor Docs 129 

hand. The half hour that precedes the printing of an 
edition finds the city editor hurrying all the reporters 
in the office, and fervently wishing that those who are 
out on assignments would return, and it goes hard with 
the man who offends. The experienced workers would 
as soon think of jumping out of the window as they 
would of crossing the city editor at this time. 

As fast as the reporters on an afternoon paper finish 
writing, they are dispatched on fresh assignments, and 
in the course of a day one man will often report a half- 
dozen stories. As the day advances news pours into 
the office more and more rapidly. The watchers send 
in reports at frequent intervals, and from those men 
who both watch and write there comes a steady stream 
of manuscript. Early in the morning almost any story 
is good enough to get a place in the paper. Late in the 
day routine news is discarded and the men engaged 
on stories which must be printed are instructed to 
"keep it down to the bone." The poorer stories of the 
morning, and most of those rewritten from the morn- 
ing papers, are thrown out of the paper altogether 
when the flood comes, or are moved to the inside pages, 
the number of pages usually growing with the suc- 
cessive editions. 

In a morning newspaper office the day city editor 
directs the reporters throughout the afternoon, but soon 
after 6 o'clock he makes way for the night city editor, 
whose work more closely resembles that of the city 
editor of an evening paper. The day city editor tells 
the reporters who return from assignments in the after- 
noon how long they are to make their articles, but he 
rarely edits any manuscript, contenting himself with 
laying the stories handed in aside for the attention of 
the copy readers who come on duty with the night city; 



130 Making a Newspaper 

editor and work under his direction until the paper goes 
to press for the first edition. How long the morning 
paper reporters remain on duty depends upon the 
amount of news to be gathered. Under ordinary cir- 
cumstances each man gets only two assignments, one in 
the afternoon and one in the evening, and commonly, 
half the reporters are through work by midnight. The 
night city editor leaves after the second edition has 
been made up, and with him go the reporters still in the 
office with the exception of the long wait man, who, 
with a copy reader, remains until the last edition comes 
from the presses. 

The copy readers, who prepare for publication and 
write headings for the articles written by the report- 
ers, are the unpopular men and the drudges of the 
newspaper business. The incompetent reporters talk 
about them behind their backs because they will not 
pass their poorly written stories; the crack reporters, 
especially those working at space rates, call them 
plodders and growl at them when they dare to exercise 
their right to prune, and the city editor censures them 
for not rejecting more stories, allowing errors to get 
past them, and not making the space writers keep more 
closely to the facts. A copy reader, who must be able 
to decipher any writing, is expected to cut out un- 
necessary words and hackneyed expressions, catch all 
errors of fact, omissions, and contradictions, cut to 
size desired by the city editor, correct poor English 
and spelling, arrange stories so that the facts follow 
one another in their logical order, punctuate, rewrite 
weak introductions, and embellish generally. In brief, 
he is required to turn whatever comes to him into a 
smooth-reading story, although it may be the initial 
effort of a novice; and he is called to account when- 



What the City Editor Does 1 3 1 

ever he allows even a minute error to get into the 
paper. It is easy enough for a copy reader to keep 
a reporter from telling a paper's readers in the end of 
a long article that a woman was rescued by the firemen 
from the fifth floor of a building described at the be- 
ginning as only four stories high, but almost every 
day, try as he will, he allows something to escape his 
vigilance, and in some offices the copy readers accept 
their daily reprimands as a matter of course. In these 
establishments there are so many words and expressions 
that are forbidden that it keeps a copy reader awake at 
nights trying to remember them; and it is a clever 
writer who can put on paper, without offending, what 
he has to say. It may here be remarked that when 
some purist writes a letter to an editor to call atten- 
tion to a "split infinitive" or to make fun of an awk- 
ward expression, he wounds a copy reader, and a copy 
reader only. 

A large proportion of the articles that are edited by 
a copy reader on an evening paper reach him page by 
page, and frequently a man finds himself engaged on 
three or four stories at one time. He may get a page 
of one dealing with a fire, then a page of another 
telling about a murder, perhaps two that are part of an 
account of a political meeting, and after another page 
of the fire story, three or four more that close the report 
of a wedding. The worker who cannot at one time 
handle three stories which reach him page by page, and 
send the headings after them, is out of place in an 
evening newspaper establishment and is not tolerated. 
While a copy reader is reading stories piecemeal he 
requires the reporters to place "catch lines" as well 
as numbers on their pages, whereupon they come to 
him "3 Fire," "7 Wedding," "4 Political," and so on. 



132 Making a Newspaper 

Sending a heading to the composing room after a 
story instead of with the first page a copy reader marks 
it "1-2 Fire," or "1-2 Wedding," and the composing- 
room foreman or one of his assistants sees that it is 
rightly placed. On articles which, while brief, are of 
more than ordinary news value, bulletins of accidents 
for example, the copy readers place marks which in- 
struct the printers to "double lead," that is, by inserting 
leads widen the spaces between the lines of type. 
Articles thus treated appearing in the paper always 
catch the eye ; at first glance they look as if they were 
printed in larger type than are the other stories. 

While they are held to strict account for errors and 
poor writing that get past them, the copy readers 
are censured if they hold articles, no matter how poorly 
constructed or how full of errors they are, for a much 
longer time than would be required to read them were 
they perfect; the supposition apparently is that if the 
copy readers are capable, and pay strict attention to 
their work, they can effect miraculous transformations 
by a few sweeps of their pencils. At any rate every 
city editor adheres to the principle that anyone can 
find fault and rewrite, and that a "desk man," to be 
worth keeping, must be able to reconstruct without 
rewriting. The result is that a copy reader encounter- 
ing an especially poorly written article, unless he thinks 
the news important, asks leave to throw it into the 
wastebasket. The city editor, should he be doubtful, 
takes the article again and examines it more carefully 
than he did at first. Then, not able to suggest treat- 
ment which will fit it for publication, he throws it 
away himself or has it rewritten by the reporter who 
wrote it originally, or if he is out of reach, by some 
other reporter. 



What the City Editor Does 133 

Advance copies of speeches are sent to the printers 
as quickly as they are edited, but the copy readers 
insure against their getting into the paper ahead of 
time by marking them "Wait Orders." Turned into 
type, speeches thus labeled are set aside in the com- 
posing room until the city editor releases them, after 
having been informed that their delivery has been 
begun. Coming to the office by telegraph the message 
giving permission for the printing usually reads, "Re- 
lease Blank's speech." And here a few words may 
be devoted to an explanation of what newspaper men 
call the "bulletin." If out of the city on an assign- 
ment a reporter, after having written and filed in the 
telegraph office a long story (and in cases of this kind 
the story is sent into the newspaper office direct over 
a wire "made" for the occasion), comes into possession 
of intelligence which it is desirable should be com- 
municated to his paper without delay, he embodies 
the information in a brief message, and heading it 
"Bulletin," has the operator sandwich it in between two 
sentences of the main story. These bulletins, which 
are preceded by a word of warning, the receiving 
operator writes on slips of paper that are instantly car- 
ried to the editor for whom they are intended. Bul- 
letins are employed to particular advantage during 
court trials, when into the main running story the re- 
porter interjects guides for the editor, such as : "Sum- 
ming up for prosecution nearly over," information 
gained by the reporter through seeing the lawyer lay 
down the last page of his notes and take of! his spec- 
tacles; and "Get ready for verdict; jury is coming in." 

Another device is the "flash," employed to convey 
information for the receipt of which the editors are 
holding the paper from the press. Particularly is it 



134 Making a Newspaper 

useful when $ prizefight is being reported. Before the 
fight has made much progress the sending operator 
begins to lag behind, and it may easily be that while 
the eighth round is in progress he is still working on 
the sixth or seventh. Should one of the fighters now 
be "knocked out," the operator waiting only long 
enough to give the warning word "Flash" sends from 
dictation the bulletin announcing the winner. Know- 
ing who won the contest the paper can put an "extra" 
on the press, and leave for a later edition a description 
of the rounds between the point where the flash was 
inserted and the end of the fight. 

The ability to write good headings is one of a copy 
reader's most valuable accomplishments. In fact, a 
man who is unable to write ones that are more than 
fair cannot hold a place at the desk of a big paper, 
even if he can correct manuscript in a satisfactory 
manner ; at least a third of the reporters who are made 
copy readers are sent back to their old places because 
their work in this line does not come up to the mark. 
The editors hold that anyone who has a fair education 
can learn how to cut out errors and embellish with a 
little practice, and that were it not for the headings, 
they could employ school-teachers to perform a large 
part of the work inside the office. In all the large 
cities the demand for first-class heading writers keeps 
constantly a little ahead of the supply. 

The heading of an article is intended to call attention 
to it and to set forth its most prominent features, and 
the writer must say a great deal in a few words; the 
more information he can crowd in the better. And 
here is where the rub comes: "The column rules," in 
the language of the printers, "cannot be bent," and the 
heading must accommodate itself to space. Half the 



What the City Editor Does 135 

time the heading that a copy reader would like to use 
has to be discarded because it is too long. Always 
there are certain forms which have to be followed, and 
on papers which do not favor bill-poster type and 
"scares," the usual limit for the first part of the largest 
heading printed is twenty letters, a space counting the 
same as a letter, a circumstance which accounts in 
part for such familiar lines as "Killed Wife and Self," 
"Panic in Tenement," "Murder and Suicide," and 
"Ferryboats in Crash." Humorous headings are in 
high favor in many offices, and there are few managing 
editors who will not commend the writer of one that is 
especially clever. To learn how to write headings one 
should study the yellow journals, as they gather in 
most of the past masters in the art. To learn what 
to avoid one might with profit turn to the files of some 
New York paper for the years immediately preceding 
the War of the Rebellion, where he will find column- 
long stories labeled by such ambiguous announcements 
as "Very Important," "Latest from Europe," and 
"Very Latest." 

A city editor who finds that he has printed a piece of 
important news which escaped the other papers says, 
as has been explained, that he has scored a beat or a 
scoop on them, and rejoices. But there is less likeli- 
hood always of his beating his rivals than there is of one 
of them beating him. His successes are not measured 
against those of one other city editor, but against those 
of all the others put together, and therefore with all the 
papers equally well equipped for getting the news the 
odds against him are as the number of papers is to one. 

But regardless of the odds against him no city 
editor, at least none employed on a big paper, is con- 
tent to remain on the defensive and aim only to pro- 



136 Making a Newspaper 

tect himself against defeat; he would not, even were 
it possible, engage only in drawn battles. Instead he 
strives in every possible way to eclipse his rivals, and 
never holds back for fear of retaliation. But beats in 
these times are not to be picked up every week, no 
matter how hard they are sought. The police system 
of newsgathering lays bare to every paper a good part 
of the town's activities ; the custom of paying volunteer 
reporters removes the ban of comparative secrecy from 
many others; the growing extension of the telephone 
system makes it easy for a man to call up his favorite 
paper when something out of the way claims the atten- 
tion of his neighborhood, and the neighborhoods in 
which every paper does not have admirers are few; 
and last but not least the local newsgathering asso- 
ciation is to be reckoned with, for every piece of news 
that reaches any of its large force of reporters is dis- 
tributed broadcast. In New York a monumental ex- 
clusive beat is not scored once in twelve months. But 
in the same length of time any one paper may be badly 
beaten repeatedly ; for it may miss news that only one 
of its rivals got, that several of them got, or that all 
of them got. 

Because beats are so hard to land the city editor tries 
to triumph by enhancing the quality of his news. Each 
story that comes to him he examines carefully in hopes 
that he will find in it some detail which, exploited in a 
certain way, will enable him to accomplish unexpected 
execution, or in other words, considering each story 
as a weapon that has been distributed impartially, he 
endeavors to win a victory through skill in handling. 
And to be fitted to conduct an aggressive fight a city 
editor should possess an enormous fund of general in- 
formation; should be well up on current topics and 



What the City Editor Does 137 

local history; should know his city thoroughly, the 
location of all public institutions, churches, hotels, and 
theaters, the homes and favorite clubs of men who are 
often in demand, and the whereabouts of a good share 
of the dives and gambling houses; and, perhaps more 
important, should know a great deal about the leading 
men and politicians of the city, their likes and dislikes, 
their reputations for veracity and the manner in which 
they can best be approached, their social stations, their 
business interests and business standings, their favorite 
recreations, their families and their relatives, and, if 
possible, their secret habits and their states of mind — 
happy or discontented. 

Knowing all these things a city editor makes the 
experienced newsgatherers proud of him, and con- 
vinces the novices that he is more than human. When 
word is received that the firemen have been summoned 
to Amsterdam Avenue and 104th Street, he puts the 
reporter he sends out on the story on his mettle by 
saying, "Now hurry along, for there are on that corner 
a home for aged women, a schoolhouse, and a home 
for the blind;" learning that there has been a high- 
way robber captured at Third Avenue and Fifteenth 
Street he keeps the reporter from going astray by tell- 
ing him to go to the East Twenty-Second Street station 
house; if Stephen Stevenson drops dead he gives the 
reporter a hint by saying, "His wife is a daughter of 
Jacob Manton, and his son, who is a lawyer, has an 
office in the Bowling Green Building;" if he hears 
that James Vanbest is to be married, he mentions to 
the reporter told to investigate the story that Van- 
best, who can usually be found at the Complex Club, 
was ten years ago sued for breach of promise by Lily 
Pansy, a chorus girl; when a reporter comes in with 



138 Making a Newspaper 

the information that there has been a murder in the 
"White Horse" tavern he remembers that three other 
murders were, years ago, committed in the place, and 
says that data necessary for an unusual story can be 
found in the office morgue; sending a reporter to see 
Dr. James John, he remarks : "Be careful, he's tricky," 
and assigning another to see a prominent lawyer, he 
says : "Go in on your hands and knees. He thinks he is 
the most important man in town ;" if Dotty Footlights, 
hurt in a runaway accident in the park, refuses to give 
the name of the man, who, riding, with her, had his 
leg broken, but was carried off by a friend, he tells the 
reporter sent to investigate that he had better find out 
whether old Palace, the bachelor-banker, is not keeping 
indoors; and if the ship-news reporter, writing about 
a liner's departure, puts Mrs. J. Vanantwerp Jones 
among the "also sailed," he calls him to his desk and 
asks whether her husband was at the pier to bid her 
good-bye. "You know," the city editor says, "they 
are not very congenial, and this may mean a more than 
temporary separation." 

The city editor's particular dread is a libel suit. 
Twenty defeats are preferable to one suit for heavy 
damages decided against his paper. And less fre- 
quently than might be thought do libel suits come as 
a result of mistakes made by the newsgatherers. Many 
times the city editor and the copy readers are at fault, 
for, in editing an article, they may, by cutting out, or 
putting in, or transposing a sentence, or even a word, 
change its entire meaning. Particularly in writing 
headings is a copy reader liable to error. After patch- 
ing up an involved or poorly written story which says 
that Jones was arrested on complaint of Smith, a man 
not infrequently writes a heading which says that 



What the City Editor Does 139 

Smith was the person arrested; and reading a story 
page by page, sending each one to the printers as soon 
as he has gone over it, a copy reader who allows his 
wits to wander can very easily get streets and street 
numbers mixed. If a copy reader does write a head- 
ing saying that the police made a raid on a house of 
ill repute at a certain number in Forty-fifth Street, 
whereas the story says the house was in Fifty-fourth 
Street, a libel suit is almost sure to come if the error is 
not detected before it gets into the paper. 

Headings often give rise to libel suits because, in 
them, owing to a lack of space, there is small chance 
to use qualifying words. A reporter compelled to 
write a story which he fears will cause trouble selects 
his words with care, and avoids making direct state- 
ments. He manages to make his meaning clear by in- 
sinuation, and he writes around rather than at the 
object of his attack; sometimes he writes a whole 
column without making an accusation, and then at the 
end tacks on a seemingly irrelevant paragraph which, 
in the light of what precedes it, gives a new turn to the 
whole story. For example, a long article telling about 
the reported disappearance from home of Mrs. Brown 
may be brought to a close with the plain assertion that 
Mr. Black, who lives near the Brown home, has not 
been seen for several days. By insinuation the story 
says that Mrs. Brown and Mr. Black have gone away 
together. The heading for a story of this type is 
required to say enough to attract attention, but is sup- 
posed to do it so skillfully that neither Mrs. Brown 
nor Mr. Black can make it the basis of a libel suit, 
even should it develop that neither was away from 
home, and more than this, that they were not even ac- 
quainted. The copy reader who attempts a feat of 



140 Making a Newspaper 

this kind, as might be expected, is not invariably suc- 
cessful. 

Every day, perhaps at his own home, the city editor 
goes over all the local stories printed in his paper to 
see how his instructions have been obeyed, and after 
this, compares the stories with those appearing in the 
rival publications. Memorandum is made of every 
shortcoming, and later the reporters find in their mail 
boxes little notes, sometimes exceedingly sarcastic, 
which set them to thinking. Usually the city editor 
engages the reporters, and in any event he has the 
power to dismiss those who do not come up to his 
requirements. Of beginners who show that they are 
entirely unfitted for newspaper work he quickly dis- 
poses, and he is ever ready to warn the experienced men 
who give evidence that they are growing careless or 
losing their enthusiasm, and to dismiss them if there is 
not an immediate change for the better. And how- 
ever much he likes a reporter personally he cannot be 
lenient, for defeats operate not only against his peace 
of mind but against his existence as an editor as well. 

Every moment that he can spare from his other 
duties while he is in the office the city editor spends 
in going over the rival papers in search of material for 
fresh stories. If he sees a dispatch that a bank has 
failed in a nearby city he promptly telephones to the 
financial editor, asking him whether any local bank 
is hurt; noticing that suicides are unusually plentiful, 
he details a reporter to go up to the Board of Health 
offices and get a column story on the prevalence of 
self-murder, and the probable cause of it ; a great drop 
in the selling price of any corporation's securities leads 
him to dispatch a reporter to demand an explanation 
of the corporation's president. "Ask him if the rumor 



What the City Editor Does 141 

that the concern is in a bad way is true," he calls after 
the departing newsgatherer. Coming across a formal 
death notice which begins "Suddenly," he starts a 
novice out to ascertain something about the death; a 
report of an epidemic in some foreign seaport causes 
him to detail a man to see the local quarantine officers 
and ask them what precautions they are taking to 
guard against the introduction of the disease into this 
country; and learning that a notorious criminal is to 
be released from prison, he arranges to have a man at 
the prison gate to ask him how it feels to be free again, 
and what he expects to do in the future. So his work 
goes on all day long. 

Most of the time the city editor leaves to the sport- 
ing editor the work of looking after the sporting events, 
but on the occasion of a prizefight, a big football 
game, or something of a similar nature, he summons 
the sporting editor and asks him how he intends to 
"cover" the event. Often he makes suggestions, and 
he may intimate that he would be willing to assign 
one or two of his own best men to relieve the sporting 
editor's reporters of the descriptive writing. To- 
gether they decide on the space that is to be given the 
story, and, this settled, make arrangements to get the 
news into the office promptly. The chess editor, the 
labor editor, and all the other special editors are also 
called upon to consult with the city editor when the news 
in their departments assumes unusual worth, and the 
good stories they "land" are never allowed to be buried 
in an inside page under a department heading. 

It is when a big story "breaks loose," when there is a 
bad railroad or steamboat accident, when a theater or a 
hotel catches fire, when a crowded building collapses, 
when a panic sweeps over the financial district, when 



142 Making a Newspaper 

a great man dies suddenly, when something occurs, 
in short, which calls for a concentration of public 
thought far and near that the city editor is hardest 
tried. On an occasion of this kind he receives as- 
sistance from the managing editor, but he must do 
almost all of the detailed planning, and moreover, 
suggestions from the managing editor, in a sense, add 
to his responsibilities for, regardless of the manner in 
which he executes his own ideas, he is required to have 
all orders transmitted from above (and suggestions 
are only polite orders) carried out in the best manner 
possible. Failing in any particular he is sure to hear 
about it, even if he handle the story as a whole in a 
satisfactory manner. 

His first task, and it is no light one, a story spring- 
ing on him suddenly, is to find men to cover it, and 
this means that he must decide in a few moments which 
stories on which reporters are already engaged can, 
with the greatest safety, be abandoned; and devise 
means for reaching the reporters. To pave the way 
for quick action in just such emergencies, the city edi- 
tors of most evening papers require their reporters to 
communicate with the office over the telephone every 
hour, and, of course, with a staff of twenty or thirty 
men, the intervals between calls are short. Where 
this custom is not observed the reporters are reached 
by telephone and messenger, usually after nerve-wrack- 
ing delays, although every reporter calls his office as 
soon as he learns of an extraordinary occurrence, and 
offers his services. The general practice of city edi- 
tors is to over-man a big story rather than under-man 
it, for on these occasions a paper, too, is put to an espe- 
cially severe test. Ordinarily a man buys a single 
paper, the same one day after day, reads it and con- 



What the City Editor Does 143 

siders that he has acquired all the news. But learning 
of a catastrophe or some other momentous event he 
buys three or four papers and reads the big story in 
each one. Then if his favorite journal suffers through 
the comparison he never stops to see whether it more 
than holds its own in the lesser news, but condemns it 
through and through. Presenting a poor account of 
a big piece of news a paper may easily lose hundreds 
of readers. 

Having got in touch with his reporters and learned 
the extent of the news (for the first duty of the early 
arrivals at the scene of a big piece of news is to call 
their office and describe the situation), the city editor 
begins to apportion the story. To one man he gives 
the task of procuring material for a general descrip- 
tion which shall open the paper's account; to another, 
if a fire is demanding attention, is intrusted the work 
of ascertaining the source of the flames; another is 
told to get a list of the dead; a man is sent to each 
hospital to which rescued persons are taken, to get 
their names, and if possible, stories of their experi- 
ences ; and others are detailed to look after the money 
loss, the insurance, the rescues, and the persons re- 
ported missing. At brief intervals the city editor gets 
fresh information from his scouts, for they tell him 
immediately of all new developments, and before the 
day is over he may have every man on his staff giving 
all or part of his attention, for the watchers in emer- 
gencies are frequently instructed to make quick dashes 
to hospitals or other places, to the big news of the day. 

After he has made provision for covering the main 
features of the story the city editor buckles down and 
tries to find the central point of the whole thing, 
searches for the detail that, exploited in the right man- 



144 Making a Newspaper 

ner, will place his story above that of the other papers. 
Perhaps the feature lies in the causes leading to the 
fire, carelessness, poor construction, incompetent em- 
ployees, or incendiarism; perhaps it lies in the work 
of the firemen; perhaps it is decided that the flames 
would have been drowned at the start had it not been 
for the poor water supply. Whatever decision is made, 
and the managing editor gets a vote here, it is com- 
municated to the reporters who are at work on parts of 
the story that may be affected, and later, when the news 
is going down on paper, general instructions are issued, 
so that everything is made to move toward the one 
end. 

Before leaving the city editor, it is worth while call- 
ing attention to the fact that news is under many cir- 
cumstances valued in direct proportion to the difficulties 
which must be overcome to procure it, and that what 
comes too easily is frequently not valued at all. To 
illustrate: if two neighbors, neither of any particular 
prominence in the community, after having a disagree- 
ment come to blows, but afterward in their sober senses 
agree to keep quiet about the affair, a city editor, 
getting an inkling of it and failing to get a word from 
either participant, will work with might and main to 
get all the details, and later publish them with a great 
hurrah. In effect, he labors with the idea of showing 
that he cannot be put off or defeated; and the other 
city editors, reading his story, and subsequently failing 
to make progress with either participant, will do their 
best to start the fight anew. But if, after having a 
disagreement and coming to blows, two neighbors both 
post off to a newspaper office to air their grievances, 
the city editor, blowing hot for a moment, soon blows 
cold. "Ahem," he says, and "Aha." Then he picks 



What the City Editor Does 145 

out a young reporter to take the story, and returning 
to his desk starts up his pipe. The tobacco all gone, 
likewise the two belligerents, he strolls over to where 
the young reporter is at work, picks up a sheet or two 
of his copy, reads it over slowly, nods his head, and 
says : "I don't believe, Mr. Blank, that I'd make much 
of that story. In fact I think about a stick will do. 
We're not here to mix in neighbors' squabbles." If 
the story ever gets into the paper at all, which is doubt- 
ful, the other city editors size it up for just what it is, 
and no more is heard of the affair, or at least nothing 
more is printed about it. 

Continually afraid that someone who has an ax to 
grind will deceive him and make him turn the stone, 
the city editor occasionally kills a story which, while 
it has all the ear-marks of being what it purports to 
be, comes in the category of what is to be handled with 
care. Thus, when someone appears in the office with 
a story of a runaway in the park, in which a woman 
is hurt, the city editor is all attention until he learns 
that the injured person is a small-part actress or a 
chorus girl. Then he smiles knowingly and waves the 
newsbearer off. "Not to-day," he says. If someone 
comes to him with a story of an actress losing her 
diamonds, he may lose his temper and ask the writer 
whether he had not better turn his attention to the gold- 
brick industry; and when word is received that two 
actors have engaged in fisticuffs, he either decides to let 
the story severely alone or details a clever man to 
write an article which shall make them both ridiculous. 
Of inventors he is always shy, and he wastes few 
words with promoters and self-acclaimed celebrities. 

Afraid as he is of news that is offered to him free 
of cost or labor, the city editor is still more afraid of 



146 Making a Newspaper 

anything which is handed to him accompanied by the 
information that the giver is willing to pay to have 
it get into print. Every city editor is a stickler on this 
score, and the usual procedure is to order the would-be 
benefactor out of the office in words that are more 
expressive than elegant. Not understanding how 
offers of payment are regarded by city editors, a man 
who has news that he would like to have printed occa- 
sionally puts himself entirely outside the pale, not only 
for the time but forever, or until the incident is for- 
gotten, whereas giving the news without comment 
when called upon by a reporter he would be considered 
a friend. 



CHAPTER X 

QUALIFICATIONS FOR JOURNALISM 

When any editor except the city editor drops out of 
a newspaper office temporarily, there is a slight shift- 
ing about and a closing of the ranks, and the paper 
reaches the street on schedule time, without more than 
a third of those in the office being any the wiser. But 
let one of the star reporters who has been at work on 
a murder mystery which is claiming the town's atten- 
tion fail to put in an appearance at the time he is ex- 
pected ; let the political reporter absent himself on the 
day that the Governor comes to town ; or let the prize 
race-track man send word that he is ill on the day that 
a big race is to be run, and instantly the whole estab- 
lishment is affected. The managing editor and the 
city editor put their heads together and talk it over; 
the assistant managing editor and the assistant city 
editor begin to review the capacities of the different 
reporters with special interest; the copy readers, al- 
though they are only onlookers, view the situation if 
not with alarm at least with uneasiness and tell them- 
selves that now is the time to do careful work and avoid 
mistakes; and half of the remaining newsgatherers 
wonder whether the chance for which they have been 
looking is at hand. Somehow, always the gap is filled, 
but unless the occasion marks the birth of a new star, 
or some worker, already a star in his own field, demon- 
strates that he is equal to things not hitherto suspected, 

i47 



148 Making a Newspaper 

the stop-gap invariably leaves something to be desired. 
The editors count themselves lucky if they get through 
the day without a serious defeat, and, even winning a 
victory, wonder whether they would not have done 
better had they had the services of the missing man. 

First-class reporters are scarce. There is a multi- 
tude of poor ones and an overabundance of fair ones, 
but the supply of those who are undoubtedly among 
the best is never up to the demand. The paper which 
does get a half-dozen first-class men on its staff is well 
able to take care of itself, and is sure to give concern 
to its competitors; most papers have only two or 
three, and a great many have none. In a few large 
offices the editors try to manufacture their stars from 
the raw material; but despite the fact that they select 
their candidates with care, picking each man from per- 
haps two score of applicants, they attain very few 
successes; not enough, one who did not know how 
scarce good reporters were would say, to pay them for 
their trouble. There is one New York paper, one that 
is particularly well known, which every year from a 
host of applicants for situations selects about a score 
of young men, most of them college graduates, and 
gives each one a chance to show what he can do. 
Every effort is made to develop those who show 
promise. Yet, if from the total number employed the 
editors get one good man, they congratulate them- 
selves. Many, many years they are compelled to make 
a clean sweep of the newcomers, not one coming up 
to requirements. 

There is undoubtedly a great deal of truth in the 
saying that good reporters are born and not made. 
A man may learn how to gather some kinds of news, 
and he may learn how to write correctly, but if he can- 



Qualifications for Journalism 149 

not see the picturesque or vital point of an incident and 
express what he sees so that others will see as through 
his eyes, his productions, even if no particular fault 
can be found with them, will not bear the mark of true 
excellence; and there is, if one stops to think, a great 
difference between something that is devoid of faults 
and something that is full of good points. The quality 
which makes a good newspaper man must, in the 
opinion of many editors, exist in the beginning. But 
when it does exist, it can usually be developed, no mat- 
ter how many obstacles are in the way. 

The primary qualification for a good reporter, and 
this means any worker who handles news, for editors 
are only promoted reporters, coming down to basic 
principles, is the ability to see news when it exists, and 
to differentiate any piece of news and pick out the 
features in it which are most worthy of attention or 
exploitation. Ability to determine the crux of a story 
does not, however, of itself guarantee that a man will 
make a finished reporter, for with reporters as with 
painters and musicians, conception and intuition 
amount to little unless they are properly set forward 
in action. Were it otherwise real artists and good 
newspaper men would be far more plentiful. The 
man who can analyze news and pick out the picturesque 
or vital point of a story is competent to this extent, but 
he will not be accepted as a good reporter until he 
proves that he can carry out his ideas from beginning 
to end. The qualifications for a good reporter, there- 
fore, are the ability to determine what information is 
wanted; to procure this information; and last to put 
this information on paper in a pleasing manner. Abil- 
ity to collect information calls for alertness, resource- 
fulness, enthusiasm, love of hard work, a good memory, 



150 Making a Newspaper 

good health, and ambition. Ability to write enter- 
tainingly calls for natural aptitude, coupled with either 
education or extraordinary powers of observation. It 
is no wonder that reporters of the first grade are 
scarce. Lacking one qualification here cited, a man 
is barred, even if he can see the news where others 
cannot. 

The more natural endowments and the more ac- 
quirements the young newspaper worker has the better 
it is for him, but if he is to succeed he absolutely must 
possess unbounded enthusiasm and good health. He may 
lack both and still make a brilliant spurt, but it is a fore- 
gone conclusion that the absence of either will bar him 
from the big prizes. The enthusiasm, too, must be 
proof against tarnish, else it will suffer when, early 
in his career, he is sent to ask some woman whether 
it is true that her husband has run off with a 
concert hall singer, or to perform some other task 
equally disagreeable. Beginners usually get more 
than their share of the undesirable assignments, and 
more than one young man, who since boyhood has 
looked forward to the delights of journalism, has, be- 
cause of this, begun to have misgivings before the 
expiration of his first week's work. The novice, more- 
over, is subject to many discouragements, for there is 
no coddling in a newspaper office. The inexperienced 
man is sent on errands that do not promise much, but 
it is expected that, having little asked of him, he will do 
that little as well as it could be done by anyone else. 
Not infrequently, because he is subjected to a steady 
stream of criticism and because he gets so many un- 
pleasant tasks, a beginner comes to think himself ill- 
treated. What he overlooks is that his editor is treat- 
ing him with kindness in allowing him to make an 



Qualifications for Journalism 151 

attempt to perform certain work, and thus hold a place 
which a lot of other men, who could undoubtedly per- 
form the work required, are extremely anxious to get. 
Beginners are only tolerated. There is no crying 
demand for their services. 

Bad habits, contrary to a rather widespread belief, 
are looked upon in most newspaper offices just as they 
are elsewhere. Now and then an editor is discovered 
who says that he does not care how those who work for 
him live so long as they perform their duties in a 
satisfactory manner; but there is none who is not 
quick to protest the moment a man's habits interfere 
with his efficiency, or with the peace of the establish- 
ment. The reporter who fails to pay his debts is safe 
only while his creditors stay away from his office, and 
the one who keeps bad company can do so with im- 
punity only while he does good work and while his 
undesirable acquaintances let him alone during busi- 
ness hours. No newspaper worker is expected to 
have many visitors call to see him at the office, and 
editors object so strongly to having the telephones 
used for other than office business that they will not 
keep a reporter whose friends insist on calling him 
over the wire. 

The frowsy-haired, picturesquely clad, irresponsible 
journalists one reads about in novels, and sees on the 
stage, exist now only in imagination. There are no 
brilliant geniuses, who, drunk or sober, need only an- 
nounce themselves at the door of a newspaper office to 
be invited in and made much of, in the hope that they 
will deign to dash off a masterpiece, and there are no 
erratic prodigies for whose favor editors bow and 
scrape. In place of the unstable wonders, the papers 
employ steady hard workers, respectably dressed, who 



152 Making a Newspaper 

appear ready for work every day. The only Bo- 
hemians of modern journalism are young men who 
have not yet got their bearings, and hangers-on, and 
failures. To call an experienced newspaper man a 
Bohemian is to insult him. 



CHAPTER XI 
HOW THE REPORTERS WORK 

Most beginners in journalism get a shock when they 
receive their first assignment. Almost every man of 
them imagines before he enters the service of a news- 
paper that on his initiation day he will be taken aside 
and put in possession of a lot of secrets; that going 
into the office with no knowledge of newsgathering, 
he will, a few hours later, emerge a self-reliant re- 
porter. The shock comes when he learns that there are 
no secrets to set him right, and no magic words im- 
parted to help him unlock mysteries. He comes out 
of the office as he went in, only coming out he is on an 
errand. 

The initiation of a reporter is very matter of fact. 
Reaching the office on his first day the beginner, mak- 
ing himself known, is directed to take a seat in some 
corner, and usually the scene harks him back to his 
schooldays, for the big room is filled with desks 
ranged in rows, and up at the front sits the city editor 
for all the world like a teacher. Soon the room begins 
to fill with young men, who, by nodding to one an- 
other, prove that they are no strangers to the place, 
but from none of them does he get more than a glance. 
Some begin to read newspapers, others devote them- 
selves to cutting out clippings which they paste in 
long strings, while a few gather in the back of the 

153 



154 Making a Newspaper 

room and engage in a low-voiced conversation. Then 
one by one they are summoned to the city editor's desk, 
and after listening to him for a minute, bustle out of 
the door. 

Long after the time the newcomer has decided that 
he has been forgotten, an office boy tells him that 
the city editor wishes to speak to him, and he hurries 
forward. "Good-morning," says the city editor, "you 
are the new reporter, are you not?" Then the new- 
comer is asked to give his name and the city editor 
pronounces it after him. If it is an unusual name 
he spells it, and asks, "Is that right ?" This formality 
over the city editor is once more on very familiar 
ground. "Well, Mr. Blank," he says; " a woman has 
tried to kill herself at Avenue A and Houston Street. 
Kindly look into the matter." Or he sends him on 
some other errand of less moment. The new recruit a 
minute later is in the street, at last a journalist. Ex- 
perienced workers rarely call themselves journalists; 
"reporters," "newspaper workers," or "newspaper 
men" they say; the beginners are usually "journal- 
ists," or "engaged in journalism." 

The new reporter, whatever he calls himself, arriv- 
ing at Avenue A and Houston Street, supposing he has 
been sent there to inquire about a woman's attempt at 
suicide, quickly realizes that he is dependent upon his 
own resources. He has not been told just what he is 
expected to get, nor how to prosecute his search. In- 
stead of a dignified journalist such as he had fancied, 
he finds himself a bewildered young man begging in- 
formation from small shopkeepers, tenement-house 
janitors, corner loafers, and newsboys. And these indi- 
viduals, he learns, have no notions about the "courte- 
sies due the press" of which he has heard. They 



How the Reporters Work 155 

look on him with suspicion, give him short answers or 
none at all, and let him understand that he is meddle- 
some. Prosecuting his inquiries in a saloon he need 
not be astonished if the bartender and the half-drunken 
idlers jeer at him. Newsgathering, he before long 
decides, is hard work and not a pleasant pastime; and 
he probably returns to his office with some of his pre- 
conceived ideas of journalism gone forever. An- 
other surprise awaits him if his gleanings are pro- 
nounced incomplete by the city editor, for then he is 
sent back in a hurry to get what he missed. 

There are two principal reasons why the novice is 
from the beginning allowed to plan as well as fight 
his battles. First, the city editor cannot take the time 
necessary to advise him, and second, the detailed 
planning must be done on the scene of action, or at 
least after the news seeker has ascertained what con- 
fronts him. Giving a reporter an assignment such as 
has just been described the city editor, however much 
he wished to help, could do little more than say to 
him: "When in doubt ask a policeman ;" and an ex- 
perienced reporter could, had he no more time than 
the city editor, add little else than "Look for another re- 
porter." But even these scraps would be worth a 
great deal to the beginner. 

The police and the experienced reporters are the 
most valuable aids the new reporter can call to for 
assistance, and when he does call he is rarely repulsed. 
The particular policeman for whom the baffled news- 
gatherer should look, is the one whose beat or post in- 
cludes the scene of the incident. It is, as has already 
been explained, the policeman's duty to investigate a 
great many of the events taking place in the territory 
he guards, and the average policeman manages to keep 



156 Making a Newspaper 

himself well informed concerning almost everything 
that causes talk along his beat, whether it be something 
which demands his official attention or only a wedding, 
the birth of twins, the death of the shoemaker's dog, 
or the fact that the tinsmith came home drunk the night 
before. Encountering the policeman the reporter often 
gets a good part of the intelligence he desires without 
delay. But occasionally the reporter's meager in- 
formation is news to the representative of the law, in 
which case, should the occurrence come within the 
scope of what he is required to investigate, the police- 
man, for his own protection, starts a search, and the 
reporter need only trail along behind to get his in- 
formation. Even when the occurrence which the re- 
porter is looking into is one that does not call for the 
policeman's attention, the reporter can often with suc- 
cess apply to him for a little assistance. Doors that 
are slammed in the reporter's face usually open wide 
for the representative of the law, for few persons have 
the hardihood to tell a policeman to go about his busi- 
ness, no matter how far he exceeds his authority. 

Failing to find the policeman he seeks, or finding 
him, but getting little or nothing, the reporter can, 
where the event he is investigating calls for police 
inquiry, apply at the nearest station house with a 
fair prospect that he will reap some reward. The 
sergeant, already possessing the information desired, 
will, except in case of a robbery or something which 
the police wish to keep secret, hand it over on request, 
and not having it, he will detail a detective or a 
uniformed policeman to make an investigation. There 
are assignments having to do with fires, accidents, rob- 
beries, and similar events which a reporter can cover 
without calling on the police, but the circumspect news- 



How the Reporters Work 157 

gatherer who believes that no effort is wasted insures 
himself to some extent against defeat by calling, before 
he starts for his office, at the station house of the pre- 
cinct in which he is working, whenever his story is one 
that may possibly have interested them. A great 
many reporters always visit the station house first of 
all, which saves them from starting their own inquiry 
empty-handed, and permits them to get down to de- 
tails without delay. 

In most large cities, particularly in New York, the 
experienced reporters are always glad to help a be- 
ginner who is not presumptuous and does not attempt 
to sail under false colors. Because of this, the tyro 
who falls into difficulty on one of his early assignments 
is in luck if he meets a skillful newsgatherer whose 
quest is the same as his own. He is only benefited 
temporarily if the experienced man, having been at 
work on the story, turns over to him all the informa- 
tion he needs, and in one way he is harmed, for the 
experience may start him on the road to becoming a 
dependent ; but he is favored by fortune if he meets 
the tried newsgatherer when both are fresh on the 
scene. Of course, if the beginner were accountable 
to a school-teacher instead of a city editor, he might 
with profit to himself proceed on a plan of his own 
and reject proffered aid, but, as it is, he cannot afford 
to let anything pass that will add to his efficiency. A 
city editor concerns himself with the news and not 
with the reporter's training, and the quicker the novice 
ceases to be a stumbler the better is the editor pleased. 
The new reporter, therefore, who gets a chance to profit 
by another man's experience, should take advantage of 
the opportunity by all means. If, having learned the 
other man's methods, he can improve on them, there 



158 Making a Newspaper 

is nothing to hinder him from so doing. He must 
understand, though, that the man who spends his time 
trying to evolve new methods while his opponents, 
employing the best they have, however faulty, are 
getting the news which he is not, rarely lasts long 
enough to put his theories into practice. Doubtful ex- 
periments the new reporter had better try when his time 
is his own, or at least, when he is after a story for 
which the city editor is not waiting. 

It is when the beginner is sent out to find someone, 
unsupplied with either a name or a definite address, 
that he most needs assistance. Hopelessly at sea, he 
must admire the manner in which the experienced re- 
porter interviews in quick succession policemen, post- 
men, janitors, grocerymen, keepers of newsstands who 
deliver papers to regular customers, druggists, watch- 
men, laundrymen, and any other persons who might 
be expected to have a large neighborhood acquaintance. 
When a reporter has the name of the person he wishes 
to see or inquire about, but only an indefinite address, 
such as a certain section of the city or a certain street, 
a canvass of the laundrymen alone will often put him 
on the right track. 

The pursuit of small accidents, trivial fires, and other 
unimportant happenings, the breaking-in work of every 
reporter, is interesting for a while, but most men after 
six months of it are found doing their best to prove 
themselves equal to more exacting tasks. In some 
offices the new reporters are, as soon as they have got 
their bearings, set to "covering police stations," and 
from this graduated into service in police courts, where 
they may be allowed to remain for two or three 
years. Police court reporting is hard work, not uni- 
formly pleasant, but it provides a training that is ex- 



How the Reporters Work 159 

tremely valuable. There are editors who hold that 
no man can reach his highest efficiency who has not 
had a year's trial at it, and most reporters who have 
had the experience are glad of it, no matter how they 
felt while the court was the scene of their daily labor. 
Not detailed to a police court, the reporter no longer 
a real novice is assigned to perform some other de- 
partment work, such as looking after the reports made 
to the coroners' office or collecting the news disclosed 
at the headquarters of several divisions of the city 
government. 

In offices where there is no department work the new 
reporters are sent upon more important assignments as 
they develop, until by degrees they come to be classed 
with the time-tried general workers. Where the de- 
partment system is in force the new men are gradu- 
ated into the general workers' ranks when it is thought 
that they have served a sufficient apprenticeship, or as 
a reward for an especially good piece of reporting. 
Not all departments, however, are looked upon as 
training schools for beginners. Some of them require 
the services of reporters both experienced and specially 
trained, and it is nothing unusual for a man to be 
drafted into one of these places and kept there in- 
definitely. The department men who cover the re- 
sponsible posts are really specialists, and between a 
specialist and a department watcher there is a great 
gap. 

The seasoned reporters are the men who get the 
constant change and excitement which, in the minds of 
most persons, are the lot of every newspaper worker. 
They interview statesmen, politicians, lawyers, preach- 
ers, pugilists, and any others who may chance to come 
into the public eye; match their wits against those of 



160 Making a Newspaper 

the police when mysteries are to be solved ; report court 
trials of interest; hasten to the scenes of disasters, be 
they far or near; collect the news of fires, failures, 
panics, parades, shipwrecks, yacht races, public meet- 
ings, prizefights, weddings, and deaths, and occa- 
sionally get the chance to go out as war correspondents. 
A general worker thinks nothing of reporting a mur- 
der, a wedding, and a missionary meeting in the after- 
noon and spending half the night in the street in front 
of the house where a widely known man is lying close 
to death ; and he is not dismayed when without previous 
notice he is hurried off to some place half a hundred 
miles away, to report a train wreck or to look into the 
causes of an epidemic. He takes everything as a matter 
of course, and, thoroughly competent, never loses his 
head. Every time he leaves the office he hopes to 
encounter a "big" story, and when he does find himself 
face to face with a great disaster or some other occur- 
rence that offers news almost without end, he thinks 
not of the difficulty he will have in getting a story, but 
of the opportunity offered to get a good one. The 
more news there is to gather the less need there will be 
to waste time looking for details, he tells himself, as 
he starts in to seek out the main facts. Some of the 
reporters who were sent to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 
in 1889, when that city was destroyed by a flood, and 
over four thousand persons were killed, began to write 
their stories when they had been on the scene only a 
half hour. The bodies scattered everywhere gave them 
an idea of the great loss of life; the piles of debris 
and wrecked buildings bore testimony to the pecuniary 
damage, and every survivor was able to tell whence 
came the flood. Had the reporters waited to count the 
dead and ascertain the money loss accurately before 



How the Reporters Work 161 

starting to write, their papers would not have heard 
from them for weeks. 

Whether a man becomes a police reporter, a gatherer 
of financial news, a political writer, a specialist in some 
other line, or an all-around worker not decidedly 
developed in any one direction depends, in most in- 
stances, upon chance. The only way in which a novice 
can himself settle the character of his assignments is 
for him to bring with him into the office some special 
training. Finding that he has a lawyer on his staff, 
the city editor turns the legal training to account by 
giving the man court trials to report; the physician 
gets work among the hospitals or in the slums, and in 
times of an epidemic shines probably brighter than 
any other newsgatherer ; the recruit from a bank or 
broker's office gets financial work. The individual 
who is specially fitted for no one place the editor pushes 
into the vacancy that most needs filling, no matter what 
the niche is. Coming into an office to-day a new re- 
porter may be detailed to a police court. Had he been 
engaged yesterday he might have got a better assign- 
ment now covered, that of meeting incoming steam- 
ships. 

Chance having determined the character of a man's 
assignments custom helps to keep him in his place, for 
the city editor, ever striving to get a man's best, never 
details his workers haphazard. Telling a man to look 
after a murder mystery one day and getting satisfac- 
tory results from him, he takes it for granted next day 
that the man knows more about the murder than does 
any of the other reporters, and details him on the same 
assignment. This he keeps up, the man doing his work 
well, until the story ceases to be of news value, or until 
it reaches the stage where it can be covered by a re- 



1 62 Making a Newspaper 

porter of less experience. But the very fact that a 
reporter is kept on the same story day after day, once 
it has been placed in his hands, operates perhaps more 
than anything else to give the new men opportunities 
to show what they can do. A beginner, no matter 
how bright he appeared and how willing, would never, 
while there were experienced men in the office, be 
detailed to cover a story that involved the robbery of 
a bank of a large amount of money by a trusted officer, 
and the suicide of the thief when exposure threatened. 
Yet, having started out with nothing more in prospect 
than the gathering of material for a seemingly routine 
death notice, a new reporter might easily within a few 
days find himself engaged on a story of this very kind. 
Getting a story which grows, a novice need only grow 
with it to win quick advancement. 

Reporters are always expected to have a fair knowl- 
edge of the news that has already been printed, and even 
at the beginning of the day, the city editor reprimands 
any newsgatherer who gives evidence that he is not 
familiar with the history of the story upon which he 
is detailed. In New York every reporter and every 
editor, too, reads the Sun; and it is because of this that 
the Sun is often referred to as "the newspaper man's 
paper." It rarely overlooks anything and its stories 
are both concise and entertaining. 

Frequently when a story requires a number of re- 
porters to assemble in one place, as during the search 
of the ruins of a burned building, they work in "com- 
bination," exchange news and relieve each other for 
lunch or to permit visits to a telephone ; and the worst 
violation of newspaper ethics possible for a reporter 
is to "hold out on" a combination and send news to 
his office without making it known to all. Doing this 



How the Reporters Work 163 

he may make some of the other reporters lose their 
places and will certainly cause them to be censured. 
The reporter who does play false with other news- 
gatherers, accepts their gleanings and remains silent 
about his own, pays dearly for his temporary triumph. 
He is thereafter a marked man, and unless he is for- 
given and restored to good standing, which is unusual, 
his newspaper career is pretty sure to come to a speedy 
termination. Particulars of his action having been 
circulated, every other reporter in the city will strive to 
the utmost to land him in a series of defeats, and with 
so many against one the defeats are sure to come. If 
he survive the defeats he sooner or later falls to a 
"plant," a sensational story manufactured and spread 
for his benefit, and either involves his paper in a libel 
suit or makes it appear ridiculous. Only when a re- 
porter plays traitor with a combination is he placed 
under the ban. The man who does not care to work 
with the other reporters on any particular story is re- 
garded as a fair foe if he makes it known where he 
stands in the beginning, and, having announced him- 
self, need fear no skulking. 

The most valuable reporter is the out-and-out special- 
ist, the man who in some particular line is the best 
reporter in the city, or at least the best on his paper. 
There are no indispensable workers in a newspaper 
office, but the specialist who is thoroughly competent 
comes as close to being indispensable as it is possible 
for a newspaper worker to be. His paper can get 
along without him, but he fits into a place that cannot 
be filled by everyone. If he makes a mistake his ac- 
complishments demand that he get other than offhand 
judgment, and if he is placed in the balance the ques- 
tion must arise: "Where is his successor?" The all- 



164 Making a Newspaper 

around worker, or the ordinary department watcher, 
is not thus safeguarded. His hold on his place is meas- 
ured exactly by the manner in which he has performed 
his latest task; any other all-around worker can step 
into his shoes the moment they are declared vacant, 
and in every large city there are always dozens of 
reporters who are out of employment. In New York 
an editor could easily in a single day procure twenty- 
five newsgatherers, and it is often said that in a like 
period an owner could engage an entire newspaper 
staff, from editor-in-chief down. But in neither event 
would there be a rush of high-grade specialist report- 
ers. There are not many of them, and those that do 
exist are never hard put for employment. 

That there are so few reporters who are thorough 
specialists is largely due to the fact that most reporters 
do not get the chance to develop themselves as they 
would like. If a man who wishes to become a Wall 
Street writer is put into a police court, he can make no 
direct progress toward his ambition so long as his 
station remains unchanged. The police court demands 
his entire attention from early morning, and obviously 
he cannot familiarize himself with the financial district 
and the people there either by going down at night and 
looking at the closed buildings, or by reading the stories 
written by the men already in the field. In Wall Street 
almost every door is guarded by a special policeman or 
a watchman, and outside of the private offices of the 
men the papers talk about are secretaries. To stran- 
gers these persons rarely unbend, and they look askance 
especially upon unknown newspaper representatives. 

Even a reporter of twenty years' experience knows 
no easy method of collecting news; always he must 
accommodate himself to circumstances. Told to re- 



How the Reporters Work 165 

port a court trial he is compelled to go to the courtroom 
and follow the proceedings closely, no matter how dry 
they be, and sent to look into an accident he must ask 
questions and keep on the trail wherever it leads. For 
all his ability and all his experience, he cannot, if by 
chance he is sent on a disagreeable errand, avoid the 
unpleasant part of it; and no reporter is exempt from 
being sent on small errands. Even the one who regu- 
larly gets the best assignment the city editor has to 
offer gets little on dull days, and never is he allowed to 
remain idle because there is no task suited to his ability. 
The war correspondent in times of peace is glad to go 
to fires, and he gets his full share of school-board meet- 
ings and accidents. 

Incidentally, the daily-paper war correspondent is a 
much misunderstood person. To some extent he is a 
myth, for the daily newspapers of the United States 
have war correspondents only when there are wars. 
When the fighting begins, or when it promises to begin 
soon, the managing editor, looking over his workers, 
picks out several able newsgatherers who have good 
health and rugged constitutions and sends them to the 
front. So long as these men are away they are war 
correspondents. When they return they take up their 
old tasks. During the Spanish-American War the 
New York papers sent out as correspondents copy 
readers, editorial writers, city editors, race-track re- 
porters, general work reporters, department men, and 
even copy boys. At least one copy boy, too, gave a 
good account of himself, for remaining in the back- 
ground one day, when the bullets were flying, he was 
able later to send to his paper a fair account of the 
battle, and the intelligence that the man for whom he 
was supposed to run errands, not so discreet as him- 



1 66 Making a Newspaper 

self, had been badly wounded and was out of service. 
It was after this that several editors gave notice that 
they valued a whole copy boy more than an incapaci- 
tated star reporter, and that any newsgatherer who ran 
unnecessary risk while on an assignment, thus exposing 
his paper to defeat, would be summarily discharged. 

A reporter who wishes to hold his place and is 
ambitious casts about him, when he is detailed to get 
a piece of news, not for an easy method but for one that 
is safe and sure. Even when his task is an apparently 
simple one the experienced reporter looks at it from 
all sides to make certain that it is not harder than it 
appears to be, and he considers nothing too much 
trouble, for saved steps, he knows, often cost dearly. 
Detailed to investigate a sudden death he does not give 
up until he has satisfied himself that it is not a case of 
suicide or murder, and when he gets straightforward 
answers to straightforward questions, he wonders 
whether there is something under the surface, and 
does his best to find out. He verifies so far as he can 
every statement made to him and is slow to decide that 
he has the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 
When he is gathering material for a death notice, for 
example, a reporter cannot be too cautious, and unless 
he knows the dead person's history from end to end it 
will be wise for him before he starts for his office to 
make a few judicious inquiries among persons not 
directly interested, just to make sure that something 
has not been withheld. If he does this he will not 
suffer the experience of one young reporter who, after 
interviewing the son of a man who had just died, 
wrote a commonplace obituary notice only to learn to 
his consternation next day that the subject of his 
notice had twenty years before been the defendant in 



How the Reporters Work 167 

an extremely sensational murder trial. Of course, the 
son had avoided all reference to the affair. 

The danger to which a newsgatherer exposes him- 
self when he takes a chance is well illustrated by the 
experience of a New York reporter, a descriptive 
writer of far more than ordinary ability, who was 
one day sent uptown to cover an exhibition by the life- 
saving corps of the fire department. Having written 
and sent to his office a story which covered most of the 
drill and finding that only a few minutes remained 
before the time set for printing the last edition of his 
paper, this reporter, having previously made an en- 
gagement to meet a friend, told himself that there was 
nothing more to do and started off. Only a minute 
or two after he had gone a team of horses attached 
to a fire engine, becoming frightened, dashed into the 
crowd and trampled a number of persons. The only 
paper in town which did not get out an extra was the 
one which the reporter who had decided to take a 
chance represented, and an hour after he reached his 
office next day he was out of work. Another story 
that is often told in New York deals with a reporter 
who, through luck, was enabled to score a good beat. 
Sent to a banquet one night he found, soon after 12 
o'clock, that all the other newsgatherers had left. 
Before he could gain the door himself there was a cry 
and a fall at one of the tables, and making an investi- 
gation he learned that one of the distinguished guests 
had dropped dead of heart disease. 

Because he is careful a reporter is often able to make 
a great deal out of what at first looked like a very 
ordinary assignment, as is illustrated by the following 
incident: A newsgatherer who was sent to report a 
church wedding, having his suspicions aroused by the 



1 68 Making a Newspaper 

anxious manner in which the relatives of the bride- 
groom, a wealthy young man, insisted that the re- 
porters should occupy seats well toward the front, 
entered into an alliance with another reporter which 
provided for an exchange of news after the ceremony, 
and slipping away unobserved, stationed himself where 
he could watch the doors. His suspicions that all 
was not right were further aroused when he found a 
couple of private detectives on guard, and they were 
verified when the detectives, acting on a signal given 
by a friend of the bridegroom, turned away a young 
woman who tried to enter. After pleading in vain 
she began to weep, and then started off, the detectives 
having interceded when a policeman threatened to 
arrest her, saying that publicity was to be avoided. 
Around the corner the reporter got her story, and while 
it was scandal, it was news of the kind his paper 
wanted, and he and his friend in the church with whom 
he shared his information scored beats that caused 
much comment. 

News was once defined as "Fresh information of 
something that has lately taken place," but in these days 
when the newspapers are steadily encroaching on the 
position once occupied exclusively by the magazines, 
news is regarded as anything that is of interest. A 
reporter of the first class because he has a clear idea 
as to the state of the public mind, because he can con- 
vert himself into a thoroughly representative member 
of the body known as the public, can find news any- 
where. Not what is known in editorial circles as 
"must," perhaps, but interesting reading of some kind. 
If he were placed on a desert island he could find 
something to write about, and it is a certainty that were 
he rescued, after having been so placed, one of his 



How the Reporters Work 169 

first moves when he got back to civilization would 
be to make arrangements to get his story into print. 
In New York City alone there are dozens of reporters 
who would jump at the chance to be marooned on a 
desert island for a week or two, and, were the man to 
be marooned to be selected by competition, the re- 
porters striving for the honor would be equaled in 
number by the magazine writers. 

It is hardly to be expected that a beginner in a news- 
paper office will see possible news at every turn as does 
the veteran, but the novice should keep it before him 
that news is not necessarily positive. If a man falls 
off the roof of a six-story building and is killed or badly 
injured, the occurrence is certainly news, although it is 
not very important, for accidents of this general char- 
acter are of daily occurrence in the large cities. But 
were a man to fall from the top of a six-story building 
and escape unhurt, the occurrence would be regarded 
by all editors as news of far more than ordinary worth. 
A recital of the unexpected and miraculous almost al- 
ways eclipses a story dealing with matter of fact or 
ordinary events. How completely a beginner may 
overlook this is illustrated by the conduct of a young 
reporter who, sent to cover the launching of a ship, 
strolled into his office a few hours later and announced 
that the story had "failed to pan out," and that there 
was not much to write. "Why not?" asked the city 
editor. "Well," replied the reporter, "something went 
wrong and the ship stuck on the ways. They hope to 
get her into the water to-morrow." Another story 
of the same character, often laughed over by the re- 
porters of a certain Western city, has to do with a 
beginner, who, having been told to look after a public 
exhibition of walking on the tight rope, returned with 



170 Making a Newspaper 

the information that he had material for a paragraph 
only, as the exhibition had not taken place. "The 
man who was to do the walking," he remarked inno- 
cently, "fell out of bed this morning and broke his leg." 
The idea that there was news in a professional acrobat, 
who constantly risked his life, being hurt by a fall from 
his bed apparently never entered the reporter's head. 

Every finished reporter is alive to the value of the 
unexpected, unique, odd, grotesque, sorrowful, and 
humorous, but the search for side issues which may be 
introduced and made prominent is conducted most 
assiduously by the representatives of the papers which 
belong to the sensational class. These reporters are 
ever on the lookout for wonders, and the oftener they 
find that for which they look the better are their 
editors satisfied. Sensations must be provided, and no 
reporter rests under the mistaken idea that their col- 
lection can be left entirely to other members of the 
staff. Employed on a sensational paper, a reporter, 
therefore, usually looks upon his assignment as given 
to him by his city editor as nothing more than a hint. 
Told to look into a suicide, it does not occur to him 
to get the facts in plain sight, or where all is not clear 
to let the evidence lead to a dull verdict. First, he 
endeavors to squeeze the suicide into a semblance of 
a murder. Failing in this, or the facts absolutely pro- 
hibiting the attempt, he tries to find something that 
will make the causes leading to the suicide a mystery. 
Not meeting with success in this direction, he asks 
whether it is not true that some other members of the 
suicide's family have killed themselves. Still failing 
to score, he goes over a list of recent self-inflicted 
deaths in an effort to discover the existence of a 
"suicide club," and, unsuccessful here, nerves himself 



How the Reporters Work 171 

and perhaps lands an even more fanciful tale. When 
the aggressive papers are presenting stories as attract- 
ive mysteries and bolstering up their contentions with 
plausible arguments, the reporters and city editors of 
the sedate publications must make concessions unless 
they can present counter-attractions, for the managing 
editors and owners will not forever have their demands 
for explanations set aside by the words "yellow fake." 
At the end of a month they remember only that they 
have had to call the city editor and those under him 
to account many, many times. Because of this the 
reporters of the sedate papers are under constant 
temptation. If they take the stories concocted by 
their more strenuous co-workers, and the stories are 
usually free to all where the reporters are work- 
ing on a big assignment, they give satisfaction and 
run little risk of detection. Refusing to take the 
stories offered, they are sure, when the sensations are 
sprung, to stand under suspicion of having been beaten, 
until they have had opportunity to explain; and a re- 
porter is always worried when he has to make a series 
of explanations, for he fears that after a time the edi- 
tors will tell themselves that where there is so much 
smoke there must be some fire, and dispense with his 
services on general principles. 

While there is no easy method of gathering news, 
many assignments which stagger the beginner are easy 
matters to the experienced man. Suppose that two 
men, a beginner and an experienced worker, are sent 
out from different offices to ascertain whether it is true, 
as is rumored, that a well-known man is aiming to 
capture a certain political office. An evasive reply 
from the man will land the novice high and dry. But 
such a reply only starts the old hand at newsgathering 



172 Making a Newspaper 

off to see the man's close friends, his enemies, the 
political leaders, and the political gossips. By the 
time he is finished with them he usually has the in- 
formation for which he started, and a great deal 
more. Even when the subject of the rumor gives a 
straightforward reply the seasoned reporter outclasses 
the beginner, for the beginner, returning to his office, 
can write little more than a paragraph, whereas the 
experienced man can build a long story about the 
reply, telling, if the man has acknowledged that he de- 
sires the office, what chance he has of getting it, what 
the party leaders think of his candidacy, and who his 
strongest opponents will be. If the man denies that he 
wishes the office the good reporter writes about the 
causes leading to his decision, the probable origin of 
the rumor, and the candidates who really do wish to get 
the place. The newsgatherer of long service is always 
resourceful. Defeated in a dozen attempts to get a 
piece of news, he forms a dozen new plans and keeps 
on working until he attains his end, or until the time at 
his disposal expires. Not once in a year does an out- 
and-out star reporter acknowledge that he is at his 
wit's end. 

If a reporter is assigned to a story which disappears 
in thin air, when, for example, he finds that a rumor 
he has been sent to investigate is without foundation, 
he says that he is on a "pipe" or a "pipe dream." 
Every day reporters get assignments which both they 
and the city editor are, at the time the assignments 
are given, pretty sure will come to nothing; but the 
city editor takes no chances and the discreet reporters 
follow his example. The worst thing that can happen 
to a reporter next to involving his paper in a libel suit 
is to "fall down" on a story, to miss a piece of news 



How the Reporters Work 173 

he was sent to get and thus cause his paper to be 
"beaten" or "scooped;" and the fear of falling down is 
with a reporter always, day and night, awake and 
asleep. Take the case of the reporter who is detailed 
to report a bank failure. Arriving at the bank build- 
ing he finds in the street before it a crowd largely made 
up of persons who, having deposited money in the 
institution, are struggling to get to the closed and 
locked doors. No one is inclined to make way, but 
he must push his way through, and after copying the 
notice pasted on the doors, make an effort to see some- 
one inside who can tell him what caused the failure, 
how much money is involved, and whether or not the 
institution will resume business. While there are a 
hundred questions that he would like to ask, the prob- 
abilities are that, holding his own against the crowd, 
and getting a note directed to one of the bank officers 
inside the doors — and he will have trouble enough 
doing this, maybe pounding on the doors to attract 
attention in defiance of a policeman — he will, in a few 
minutes, be told by the watchman or clerk who took his 
missive that "there is nothing to say." The bank ex- 
aminer, if reached, promises that "there will be a state- 
ment to-morrow." But the reporter cannot wait until 
the morrow for news; he must get something some- 
where without delay. Convinced that the bank build- 
ing is barren ground, he procures a list of the institu- 
tion's directors and starts to search for them. But try 
as he will he cannot find them all, and those he does 
find are rarely communicative. The scraps they give 
him, though, are eagerly seized upon. While he is 
moving about he questions everyone he can reach who 
might know something about the failure, and having 
exhausted his resources he finds that his gleanings 



1 74 Making a Newspaper 

pieced together give a pretty fair idea of the situation. 
But he does not know what the rival reporters have 
learned. Whatever it is, he is expected to have, when 
he reaches his office, as much as all of them put to- 
gether, for his editor is not going to compare his 
story with that of one of his rivals. The facts in all of 
their articles will be arrayed against those in his, and 
he will be called to account if anything of importance 
has escaped him. 

If he works on a morning paper, the reporter en- 
gaged on the bank failure is kept busy until well in the 
night writing his story. After it is finished he hands 
it to the man occupying the city editor's chair, and un- 
less there is especial need of reporters is allowed to go 
home. He is tired, but going to bed he does not always 
rest well, for having worked under pressure he is 
nervous and restless. He is not sure that he did not 
miss the most important fact connected with the fail- 
ure ; however hard he labored he has no guarantee that 
someone he could not find or someone who refused to 
give him information has not told a rival reporter 
and proved to him that the failure was caused by a 
thieving cashier, whereas in his own account he at- 
tributed it merely to bad management. Bank failures 
are not weekly occurrences ; but murders, big fires, rob- 
beries, embezzlements, accidents, elopements, strange 
disappearances, and many other similar happenings 
are, and, for the reporter, these things and bank failures 
are in the same class. 

The reporter for an evening paper who is engaged 
on a bank failure is expected to cover the ground just 
as thoroughly as is the morning newspaper man, but he 
has much less time in which to do the work, and while 
he is searching for information he is frequently inter- 



How the Reporters Work 175 

rupted. Editions are issued from his office at inter- 
vals of a few hours, and it is incumbent upon him to 
furnish fresh news for each one. Employed on most 
papers, he is required, if the bank is not more than a 
fifteen- or twenty-minute journey from his office, to 
go to his office to write his main story, and to drop in 
frequently afterward to add to it. As he is held re- 
sponsible for all that goes on around the bank building, 
and is expected to call on directors and others who may 
be scattered over the city, there is plenty of cause for 
him to worry, and he feels very often before the day 
is over that his editor is taking it for granted that he 
can be in two or three places and doing two or three 
things at one time. When he is too far from his office 
to visit it frequently a reporter does his writing, if he 
cannot get permission to use a desk in an office or 
a store, while sitting on the steps of some build- 
ing, in a hallway, or on a packing-box, and hands 
his manuscript over to a district messenger for 
delivery. Reporters employed on a few afternoon 
papers are not only permitted, but are expected 
to use the telephone rather than go to their of- 
fices, even when they are in their immediate vicinity; 
but papers which employ the telephone continually are 
particularly demanding. They want fresh news at ex- 
tremely short intervals, and, usually of the aggressive 
type, they are ill satisfied unless they receive sensa- 
tions. An evening newspaper reporter is on the 
anxious seat all the time. 

But an editor proceeds on the theory that "nothing 
succeeds like success," and the reporter, no matter 
how well he has done previously, who wakes some 
morning to find to his dismay that what he long 
feared has happened, that he failed to get the most im- 



176 Making a Newspaper 

portant feature of the news while another reporter did 
get it, goes to his office feeling that so far as one news- 
paper is concerned, his time has come. It may be that 
his good record will save him, but he knows that an- 
other occurrence of the kind will throw him over or 
surely place him on the doubtful list. A reporter who 
has missed news which he was expected to get may be 
able to give twenty reasons why he failed, but he 
cannot do other than admit that he did not get it. The 
editor argues, "You got it or you did not. You did 
not. Therefore you must pay the penalty." All re- 
porters are aware of this, and occasionally one, learn- 
ing that he has sustained a bad defeat, starts out to look 
for a new place without taking the trouble to go to 
his office to ascertain what the men in authority think 
about the matter. 

Bribes are not openly offered to newspaper workers 
very often, but they are frequently submitted in round- 
about ways, and it is just as well for the beginner to 
be on his guard against them; the experienced man 
needs no caution, as he is fully aware that his honesty 
and loyalty constitute a good share of his stock-in- 
trade. Even as a matter of business, bribe-taking is 
not a fair venture, for a man begins to break away 
from newspaper work the moment the breath of sus- 
picion attaches itself to him; an editor does not 
demand direct evidence when the word "bribery" comes 
to his ears; all that he asks is a plausible accusation. 
The reporter who does take a bribe is usually sorry for 
it, for the person who is mean enough to take ad- 
vantage of his dishonesty is not above demanding 
future favors under threat of exposure. In most 
cases there would be no bribery anywhere if the 
desired result could be accomplished by either a com- 



How the Reporters Work 177 

mand or a threat; a bribe is nothing more than a last 
resort. 

Far more dangerous than the plain offerer of a 
bribe is the individual who holds out gifts. The news- 
paper worker cannot keep too far away from him, for 
while he miscalls his presents he also is tardy in making 
his requests. Too late to save himself the reporter 
may find that in return for a gift of small value, which 
he never desired and took only because it was forced 
upon him, he is supposed to deliver himself body and 
soul. Almost any reporter of long service can recall 
instances where, having accepted a cigar as a present, 
he discovered that in return he was expected to per- 
form services whose value in money would purchase 
all the cigars he could smoke in five years. The 
novice needs a special warning against allowing him- 
self to be misled, for he is more subject to temptation 
than the journeyman. Half the scalawags in the 
country, when they get into a police court, imagine 
that they are a thousand times more important than 
they are, and begin to ask how they can keep their 
names out of the papers. On the other hand there is 
an occasional police-court prisoner who takes pains to 
make sure that the reporters will not overlook him. 
It is as good as a play to see a bounder in a police 
court for speeding an automobile. His time for glory, 
he thinks, has come, and between snobbish airs to 
establish his position and efforts to win the reporters' 
favor, he manages to tell everyone of any perception 
just what he is. The worst punishment that can be- 
fall him is enforced continuance in the oblivion to which 
he is fitted and accustomed. 

Harder to deal with than the man who is willing 
to pay for silence is the one who appeals to the re- 



178 Making a Newspaper 

porter's generosity or sympathy. It is extremely 
difficult to turn a deaf ear to the person who says : 
"You have my future in your hands. Tell what has 
happened and I am lost. Keep quiet and I am saved, 
and no one will suffer. Think of my family." There 
may be times when it is proper for a reporter to be 
moved by an appeal, but he should never forget that 
he is paid to be the eyes and ears of a newspaper and 
that the editors are expected to get a chance to do 
any suppressing that is thought necessary. The re- 
porter who kills news on his own responsibility betrays 
his paper, no matter under what other designation his 
action falls. He becomes a false philanthropist, or 
worse yet, what is known as a "genial," a man who is 
willing to do the right thing at somebody's else ex- 
pense. 

Slow as he should be in making promises about his 
own actions, a reporter should never allow himself to 
assume the responsibility of making promises for his 
paper. It is not safe even in seemingly trivial matters ; 
there may come a sudden change of circumstances 
which lifts the affair concerned into prominence, and 
again editors are not unlikely to make a great stir if they 
discover that their province has been encroached on, 
no matter how little the harm done. If a green re- 
porter dared do it, he could insure orders for a long 
story every time he appeared in the office by saying: 
"I promised not to say much about this" ; and he could 
kill his gleanings just as readily by announcing: "I 
promised to give this in full." How particular edi- 
tors are in this direction was indelibly impressed on the 
mind of a young Philadelphia reporter some years ago 
when, returning to his office one Saturday night after 
having been sent to get material for a death notice, 



How the Reporters Work 179 

he told his city editor that he had been asked to hold 
the notice until Monday morning. The man who 
was dead, it seemed, had all his life opposed Sunday 
papers, and his relatives thought it would be disre- 
spectful to his memory to have his obituary printed in 
one of his great aversions. "Did you promise ?" asked 
the city editor, when he had heard the story. "I had 
to," replied the reporter, "they would give me nothing 
until I did." 

"Well," said the city editor, "I want to print that 
story to-night, and I now want you to go back and tell 
those people that we print it to-night or not at all. 
And while you are there you may tell them that you 
had no right to promise; only took it on yourself." 

The reporter's reply did not help matters : "It is five 
miles to the house," he said, "and the rain is pouring. 
Besides, I have the story, and if you are determined to 
print it why not go ahead ?" 

"Young man," the city editor announced, "I'm will- 
ing to have you drown in the rain, but I am not going 
to let you make this paper out a liar. Your promise 
was no good, but those people don't know it. Now 
hurry!" 

The reporter returned to the house, explained the 
situation, and got the desired permission although it 
was given reluctantly, and while the lesson was a harsh 
one it promises to be sufficient for his entire career. 

In a great city the man who would as soon be dead as 
out of the public eye cannot often hold the reporters 
up in the streets and cannot gain access to the editors 
to bore them with his self-centered plans, but he is by 
no means unknown. Indeed, if he were only aware of 
it, the reporters keep him on their ready reference list; 
and while they laugh at him behind his back, employ 



180 Making a Newspaper 

him constantly when they are hard up. In an emer- 
gency he can be counted on for an expression on any 
subject under the sun. 

Another man for the reporter to guard against is the 
one who is willing to tell him just what he desires to 
know, but always adds. "Of course, this is not for 
publication." A reporter who listens to a story and 
then keeps it from his office exposes himself to many 
perils. For example, his city editor may sometime ask 
him whether he has ever heard the story, in which case 
he is compelled to lie or acknowledge his deceit, or 
some reporter who pays no attention to promises may 
print the story and thus subject him to defeat; and 
again, having given his promise, he is placed in an em- 
barrassing position when the same news reaches him 
from another source, this time without the secrecy 
obligation, for printing it he is almost certain to offend 
his original informant and lay himself open to the 
charge of breaking his word. 

While hunting for news a reporter, particularly a 
department man, has to ask direct and leading ques- 
tions. It is not sufficient for him to go into an office 
and ask, "What is new to-day?" or "Have you any 
news?" Most people do not know news when they 
see it unless it is in print, and questions like these are 
usually futile. Even court policemen and court clerks, 
with whom reporters come into daily contact, are slow 
to see the picturesque or odd. They can see the news 
in a murder trial, in the sentencing of a prisoner, and 
in a row in the courtroom, but tears and pitiful leave- 
takings are to them only everyday incidents not worth 
remembering. When one of these men sends for a 
reporter, saying that he has a story for him, it is 
usually to tell him about a picnic, the presentation of 



How the Reporters Work 1 8 1 

a token of esteem, or a meeting of some minor political 
organization. A reporter must keep himself informed 
about current topics and ask specifically for what he 
wants. Interviewing an officer of a corporation after 
a directors' meeting the questions should be : "What 
dividend was declared?" "Is this the usual dividend?" 
"Were any new directors elected?" and "Is there a 
minority report?" A director who has something to 
conceal is not going to unbosom himself when he is 
merely asked: "Did anything happen?" 

A reporter should invariably get as close to the 
source of news as he can. He wastes time if he goes 
to clerks and underlings ; generally they do not know 
what is going on, and when they do they are afraid 
to speak. Then, too, their time is not their own, and 
under the eyes of their superiors they do not dare en- 
gage in conversation. Going into a bank a reporter 
should aim for the president or the cashier. They 
run the institution and are held accountable for its 
welfare, and although they may be reluctant to talk 
they cannot afford to create suspicion by evasive replies 
or silence. What they say, also, can be accepted as 
correct, for their positions demand that they speak the 
truth. There are, however, many places where a re- 
porter will find it to his advantage to keep in with the 
subordinates, for, kindly disposed, they can often give 
him hints — "tips," the reporters say — that certain 
things are in the wind. For the purpose of verifying a 
"tip," a newsgatherer cannot go too high. 

A reporter cannot afford to let himself be put off or 
side-tracked. When he goes to a man to ask a certain 
question he wants to ask that question, and, as forcibly 
as he dare, insist on an answer. If he does not under- 
stand the answer, he should say so. If need be, he can 



1 82 Making a Newspaper 

appear to be a trifle dense ; it will not hurt him and it 
may produce the result. Never does he want to be 
so bright that he can interpret a smile, a shrug of the 
shoulders, or a wink, as long as he is in a position to 
ask questions. Here is where an inexperienced re- 
porter often fails. Sent to ask an embarrassing ques- 
tion he approaches the subject evasively, and only half 
states his case. The object of his attentions, quick to 
see his advantage, gives the reporter a little flattery, 
answers the question in words that might mean any- 
thing, hints that the reporter is a good fellow, hands 
him a cigar and lands him out in the hall, bewildered 
and defeated. If there is to be any talk about the 
weather or the political situation, the reporter should 
be the one to bring it about. And there is a time and 
a place for this sort of thing. Getting a man to say 
something which, there is reason to believe, he might 
later wish to have left unsaid, a reporter's cue is to 
retire before the change of mind comes; but it does 
not do for him to make a dash for the door or take to 
his heels, for this course would only bring the object of 
his questions to earth in a hurry and not unlikely lead 
him to retract his words or declare that he does not 
wish to be quoted. Instead, having accomplished the 
purpose of his errand, the reporter should change the 
subject, play the admirer himself, and make his exit 
gracefully, leaving the other man to wake up 
when he sees what he has said staring at him in 
print. 

There is nothing that acts more quickly and effect- 
ively as a suppressor of news than a notebook and 
pencil wrongly displayed, and knowing this, time-tried 
reporters cultivate their memories; they take notes 
without restraint only when they are after news which 



How the Reporters Work 183 

is on plain view and which no one can forbid them to 
gather. A reporter does not have to be in the news- 
paper business very long before he has the bad effects 
of note-taking impressed upon him. Intent on getting 
a piece of news he meets someone who can give him 
what he desires, and is getting along swimmingly 
when, wishing to jot down a fact, he pulls out paper 
and pencil. Instantly there comes a change. His in- 
formant, realizing what he had overlooked, that he is 
not delivering a confidential talk, freezes up, refuses 
to say anything more, and probably begs off for what 
he has already said. Politicians interested in factional 
fights are particularly prone to do this, and political 
reporters aware of the fact never take notes if they 
can help it while getting interviews. Good inter- 
viewers train their memories so that they can, with- 
out the aid of a note, write out a ten minutes' talk al- 
most word for word hours after they have heard it; 
and in an emergency they can carry a half-dozen brief 
interviews in their heads at one time, and later put 
them on paper without getting them mixed or losing 
their salient points. 

Occasionally, but as a resort and not as a time and 
labor saver, reporters can use the telephone to good 
advantage; just how can be illustrated as well by the 
following story as by an indefinite explanation. A 
young reporter, and it happened that it was one of his 
early assignments, detailed because men were scarce to 
the reported failure of one of the largest retail stores 
in the United States, found, reaching the store, that the 
doors were locked and that no response was made to 
repeated knockings. One of the reporters, of whom 
probably a dozen were present, had learned that the 
head of the firm was inside, and all of the newsgather- 



184 Making a Newspaper 

ers joined in saying that a talk with this individual 
was the thing most in demand. The young reporter, 
to whom no attention was paid, was wondering where 
his hoped for honors were to be won in the face of the 
existing circumstances, when, happening, to glance 
through a drug store window, his eyes fell on a tele- 
phone booth. In a minute he was inside the booth, 
calling the store to which access was so much desired. 
The response was quick. "I would like to speak to the 
proprietor, Mr. Blank," said the young man, almost 
overcome by the thought of his audacity. There was 
a moment's silence and then a voice said: "This is 
Mr. Blank, what is it ?" Trying hard to keep cool, the 
reporter told who he was and said that he wanted to 
ask whether the firm had failed. Had he planned for 
a week he could not have framed his question better. 
The word "failed" was a slap in the face for Mr. Blank. 
"No, sir," he shouted, "it is not a failure, only a tem- 
porary affair," and he followed this with an announce- 
ment that the firm could pay its debts and would pay 
them. Then he denounced several persons who he 
said were trying to ruin him and started to give figures. 
At this point there was a bang at the store end of the 
wire and the connection was broken. To the reporter 
it sounded as if someone had taken the telephone re- 
ceiver from Mr. Blank's hand and thus silenced him; 
at any rate, the reporter could not raise the store again. 
But what he had already procured enabled him to send 
a quarter-column interview to his paper, and some of 
the things in it were so turned to advantage by the 
city editor that the paper was able to print a two- 
column story, which showed that Mr. Blank had, by 
neglecting his business, lost track of its affairs, and 
that he was a bankrupt without knowing it. The 



How the Reporters Work 185 

articles printed by the other papers all missed the mark, 
and none embraced an interview. 

In the face of the foregoing tale it is only fitting that 
a warning should be given against employing the tele- 
phone to save time. It does not pay. The reporter 
may get answers to his questions, but hanging up the 
receiver, he cannot be sure that had he been face to face 
with his informant he would not have seen enough to 
induce him to double his list of questions or to change 
their complexion. No matter what his errand a re- 
porter should get as close to the fountain head of in- 
formation as possible, and this holds good even when 
the questions he has to ask are disagreeable to the last 
degree. No newsgatherer is so callous that he likes to 
ask a man whether he has deserted his wife ; but, de- 
tailed to get information of this kind, a discreet reporter 
stifles his feelings and, going to the man, perhaps 
with an apology, submits the question. In a matter of 
this kind it is not safe to trust to the man's friends, 
and even lawyers are occasionally misinformed as to 
their client's doings. 

A reporter, to tell the plain truth, cannot afford to 
be above his work or "above his job," as the New York 
newsgatherers say. A reporter is a reporter, and the 
one who allows his misgivings to interfere with his 
activity had better look for more pleasing employment, 
for whether he sees it or not, he plays false with his 
employer and takes pay that he does not earn. An in- 
cident in the life of a certain New York reporter will 
serve to illustrate the danger of permitting inclinations 
to interfere with duty. Sent to a New Jersey town 
one summer to look into a supposed murder mystery, 
he found the local police and a few outside detectives 
devoting their energies to an endeavor to establish the 



1 86 Making a Newspaper 

victim's identity. The body, which had been found in 
a deserted stone quarry, was lying in a temporary 
morgue, and after listening to the descriptions of some 
of the other newsgatherers, of whom about a dozen 
were engaged on the story, the reporter in question 
decided that he did not care to view it himself; and 
he did not. For two days the newspaper represent- 
atives had plenty to write; then they settled down to 
wait for an identification. Men and women by the 
hundred, many from other places, called to see the 
body, that of a well-dressed young man, but although 
a half-dozen supposed identifications were made, none 
of them, when run down, came to anything. On the 
evening of the fourth day the reporter with whom this 
tale is immediately concerned, sitting in front of the 
morgue, was astonished to see coming up the street 
two New York merchants with whom he was ac- 
quainted. Accosting them, he found them in low 
spirits, and when they started inside he decided to go 
along. The sheet that covered the body was thrown 
back. "It's he," whispered one of the newcomers. 
"It's my brother." The reporter said nothing, but he 
did some rapid thinking, for in the dead man he 
recognized a person he well knew, at least, by sight, 
and he had good reason to know him well, for the man 
had in New York lived next-door to his boarding- 
house. After the identification was established the 
reporters learned that they had been at work on a 
suicide instead of a murder story, but the sensitive re- 
porter had not, two years later, decided just how he 
ought to label the incident in his personal recollections. 
Here is as good a place as any to speak about the 
necessity of dealing circumspectly with identifications 
of persons, either living or dead. Almost every week 



How the Reporters Work 187 

in the station houses in New York persons before 
whom a line of men is paraded for the purpose of 
giving them a chance to pick out the one who has 
robbed them, settle upon a detective or a corner loafer 
called in to add to the line's length, instead of the 
supposed thief, and it is a common occurrence in the 
courts for men identified as the perpetrators of crimes 
to prove conclusively that they are innocent, and that 
when the crimes were committed they were miles away. 
Identifications of the dead are even more perplexing 
and uncertain. Hardly a day passes in New York that 
both men and women are not reported to Police Head- 
quarters as missing from home, and while the majority 
of them no doubt reappear after brief intervals there 
are constantly many families which are alarmed for 
the safety of persons dear to them. As a result of 
this, every time the newspapers report the presence at 
the Morgue of a well-dressed body, the place is be- 
sieged. And terror-stricken, half-hysterical, and per- 
haps remorseful, a good many of the visitors see what 
they fear to see instead of what confronts them, with 
the consequence that the police are sent on wild-goose 
chases that end when they discover the supposed dead 
men or women alive and well, but furious over the 
newspaper notoriety that has been thrust upon them. 
The morbid and curious are almost as bad as those who 
have friends missing in announcing identifications, and 
they are more of a menace to contentment, for from 
them no one is safe. Without a shadow of cause and 
without a thought about what may result, they will 
blurt out names, even of persons with whom they have 
no acquaintance and whom they have never seen except 
at a distance. Some individuals attempt so much of this 
thing that the police get to know them and shoo them 



1 88 Making a Newspaper 

away from the Morgue whenever they appear. So often 
were the reporters misled by one of these irresponsibles 
in New York several years ago that, on the occasion of 
his last appearances, they referred to him in print as the 
"Great American Identifier." A reporter should look 
askance on all identifications unless the proof is indis- 
putable, and he should not forget that numbers or the 
majority do not insure correctness. If a penny is 
tossed before a crowd of one hundred men and ninety- 
nine cry "heads," the hundredth man who cries "tails" 
has exactly as much chance as do all the others put 
together. 



CHAPTER XII 
WRITING A NEWSPAPER STORY 

To the satisfaction of experienced men who like to 
work free-handed, and the sorrow of beginners who 
are on the lookout for guides, there is no detailed 
formula for the construction of a newspaper story. If 
individual office requirements are excepted, there are 
only two rules that can be employed, and even these 
two fail of application in a great many instances. 
This leads to the explanation that the articles printed 
in the newspapers — the editorials excepted — can be 
divided into two classes. First, there are stories that 
deal with pure news, accounts of fires, accidents, busi- 
ness failures, elections, and a thousand and one other 
phases of life. These must be printed; the public 
demands them, and it is to supply the demand that 
newspapers exist. The second class is made up of 
what are generally called human-interest stories, stories 
that are printed not so much to convey information as 
to furnish amusement, arouse sympathy, or merely to 
entertain. 

The difference between the two varieties of stories is 
easily illustrated, and at the same time it can be shown 
that both may be built on the same basis, and that the 
class in which a story falls depends generally upon the 
intention of its writer. Let it be supposed that Solomon 
Simon, an emigrant, poverty-stricken, in poor health, 
out of work, homeless, friendless, and homesick for 

189 



190 Making a Newspaper 

his native land, gives up the struggle for existence 
and kills himself. His death is of .little insistent news 
value and may be dismissed with a paragraph ; dozens 
of suicides of this general character get brief mention 
in the papers every month. If space were in demand 
this particular one would be recorded something like 
this : "Solomon Simon, a despondent tailor, killed him- 
self yesterday at 666 Allen Street by inhaling illuminat- 
ing gas." This a brief news story. But it is possible 
to treat Solomon Simon's death in another manner. 
If an energetic space-paid reporter, detailed to look into 
the suicide, chanced to come across someone who was 
familiar with Simon's life history, and returned to his 
office to find that there was need of material to fill 
empty columns, he would probably write a story that 
told of Solomon Simon's boyhood, his ambitions, his 
love affairs, his desertion of home for the land of 
promise, the blasting of his hopes, the struggle for 
existence, the growing hardships, and the end of his 
career with promise of a resting place in the Potter's 
Field. This would be a human-interest story. 

For the construction of a human-interest story there 
is no only way any more than there is an only way for 
the construction of a magazine article or a novel. No 
matter how it proceeds it gets editorial sanction if it 
is good reading. But a human-interest story that 
fails is a sad affair. Making pretensions it dare not 
be mediocre ; and it is a particularly sad affair if, while 
too poorly written to print, it has in it news that must 
go into the paper, for a story of this type defies 
ordinary copy reading methods and yields only to 
the rewriters. Editors are continually looking for 
original writers, men who can produce something new, 
but they are looking for the finished product and not 



Writing a Newspaper Story 1 9 1 

for experimenters, and because of this beginners should 
do their very best when they try human-interest stories. 
Most of the good stories of this type that appear in the 
papers are the work of the star reporters. 

It is with pure news stories that the two rules already 
referred to have to do. The first rule is : " Always 
begin your story with the most important fact"; the 
second is, "Take up the various incidents in the order 
of their importance, reserving unessentials for the 
last." The first rule calls for an explanation, for it 
has an implied meaning that might be overlooked. Be- 
fore a reporter can determine accurately which part 
of a story is the most important he must, of course, 
procure every detail ; missing only one he cannot make 
a sure selection, for the one that is missed may be the 
one that outranks all the others. What the rule really 
says, then, is that a reporter should first get every fact 
and then begin his story with the most important one. 
Both the rules are in force in every newspaper office 
in the land, and it is highly important that the beginner 
keep them before him. But it is not enough that he 
get the rules themselves. Their application is the 
part that counts, and to apply them is not so easy as 
might appear; even the star reporters in the best 
offices go far astray occasionally. When John Smith 
falls and breaks his leg, and the accident has to be 
recorded, there is, if there are no incidents worth men- 
tioning connected with the occurrence, not much 
chance for originality, and the reporter may be par- 
doned for starting his story "John Smith, 34 years 
old, of 1661 Third Avenue." But when a whole staff 
of reporters sticks as closely to evident facts, and the 
public is compelled to look upon a series of articles 
beginning, "Mary Jones, 32, of 6y Lenox Street, was 



192 Making a Newspaper 

arraigned in the Jefferson Market Police Court to- 
day," and "Policeman Brown of the Mulberry Street 
station was patrolling his beat this morning," it is 
evident that a good rule is being made ridiculous. The 
trouble is that it is extremely easy to mistake the 
primary or most obvious fact for the most important 
one, and when this mistake is made a machine con- 
struction introduction is the invariable result. 

The introduction of a newspaper story is the part 
that counts heaviest, for this is the bait that attracts 
or scares off readers. Every experienced reporter 
realizes, too, that the quality of the introductions he 
writes has a great deal to do with the standing he 
acquires in his superiors' estimation. A good intro- 
duction will sometimes act as a passport for a story 
that is not high class all through, but a story that is 
good as a whole stands little chance of getting into 
print without many alterations if it is headed by a 
weak beginning. Rarely does the city editor read 
a story from end to end before it gets into print; 
ordinarily, as has been pointed out, his judgment is 
formed on the quality of the introduction alone. With 
the copy readers it is much the same. Finding that a 
story makes a good start they go through it favor- 
ably disposed. But compelled to worry over the open- 
ing, they apparently get into the habit of making cor- 
rections and slash right and left. Aware of all this a 
time-tried reporter will often make a half-dozen starts 
before he gets an opening sentence that suits him. 

Properly constructed, a pure news story begins with 
the climax, the story's most dramatic or noteworthy 
incident, and works backward. The opening sentence 
tells the main facts and the complete introduction con- 
tains a summary or forecast of what is to follow. 



Writing a Newspaper Story 193 

Thus, in writing about a small fire in which lives were 
lost, a reporter does not tell of the starting of the fire, 
and lead up to the loss of life. Instead, he makes the 
fire a secondary matter and opens his story with the 
announcement: "Two men lost their lives in a fire in 
Broome Street last night." The persons who wish to 
learn about the fire itself must read further. An in- 
troduction should always be brief, and the first sentence 
should be a short one. Experienced reporters never 
begin to write without having a pretty fair idea of the 
manner in which their stories are to proceed. All 
the time they are collecting information they subcon- 
sciously arrange their finds in some sort of order, and 
on their way to their offices at the close of a search for 
news they plan in more or less detail the form in which 
their information shall go on paper. Free to choose, 
an ambitious reporter, returning to his office to write, 
will keep to himself every time and his mind will be 
active every foot of the way. 

The body of a news story, if the second rule for 
newspaper writing, the one which says that the facts 
must be marshaled in the order of their importance, is 
observed, is itself an introduction drawn out. First, 
it explains the climax, and this over, passes on to take 
up the various incidents as they are demanded to make 
the story proceed intelligently. The unessentials come 
last. A story constructed on this plan has two strong 
points. It can be cut off almost anywhere if space is 
at a premium ; and appearing in the paper, it does not 
hold the reader in suspense and demand a complete 
reading. The story that does not explain as it goes 
gets harsh treatment in a large newspaper office, and 
usually brings a reprimand for the writer. Remember- 
ing the two rules for writing, a young reporter need 



1 94* Making a Newspaper 

only turn to a high-class city newspaper to see how 
they are applied. To give examples of well-written 
stories here there is no need. The examples, were they 
presented, might easily be pronounced bad ones by 
someone to whom they did not appeal, and they would 
in addition be nothing more than personal selections. 
The stories that appear in the papers may be accepted 
as good examples or at least as examples that have 
passed the scrutiny of a city editor, a copy reader, and 
a managing editor, or a managing editor's assistant. 
Of rules for writing that are in force in individual 
offices there is no end. Every time a reporter changes 
from one paper to another he encounters a lot of new 
ones, and he is not astonished if in one place he is told 
to do something that in another was strictly for- 
bidden. In one office a steamship is always a steam- 
ship, a boat, or a vessel; it must never be called a 
ship, the contention being that a ship is never anything 
else than a square-rigged vessel carrying sails. In 
another office a ship must never be called a vessel, the 
editors saying that a vessel is a utensil for holding 
liquors. There are dozens of these contradictions. 
But the discreet reporter learns the rules of his office 
and observes them carefully, no matter what he thinks 
of them. Usually these rules are warnings, consist- 
ing of a series of "don'ts," and in many establish- 
ments the official "don't" list is regarded in the light 
of a text-book, the supposition apparently being that, 
avoiding the wrong things, a reporter will hit upon 
the right ones. In reality, the "don'ts" are always 
of a negative value. It does not help a green reporter 
in the slightest to tell him not to use "commence" for 
"begin," or "couple" for "two," and the man who 
studies a "don't" list in the hope of learning how to 



Writing a Newspaper Story 195 

write needs sympathy. The "do" list when it exists 
at all usually consists of a half-dozen rules like "Use 
'on' before name of day," and "Do observe sequence 
of tenses." There is, however, a lot of advice that 
might be given to beginners and some of it is here 
presented. 

A newspaper story must be clear. Its main pur- 
pose is to convey information, and when it does not 
do this there is no reason for its existence. A re- 
porter's first aim should be, therefore, to construct his 
story so that he cannot be misunderstood. If he can 
combine literary style with clearness, well and good; 
if he cannot, literary style must be relegated to the 
background. It is always better to repeat a name than 
to use a pronoun where there is a possibility of am- 
biguity, and it is just as well to avoid the words 
"former" and "latter." Short words are always to be 
preferred to long ones, and it is not necessary to des- 
ignate a thing in a dozen different ways simply to 
avoid repeating a word ; calling a modern fifteen-story 
hotel an inn, a tavern, and a caravansary verges close 
on the ridiculous. Short sentences, too, are preferable 
in newspaper writing; long, involved ones are not de- 
sired in any office, and on some papers there is a rule 
that no sentence shall be printed which occupies more 
'than seven lines of type. Incidentally, if a reporter is 
called upon to correct a proof he should endeavor, 
changing a word or a sentence, to write in about as 
much as he takes out, thus rendering it possible for the 
printer to make the change without running over or 
respacing many lines to "make even." Should the 
word "penitentiary," for example, be supplanted by 
"jail," the printer has to reset four or five lines at 
least before he can cover up the change. Where a 



196 Making a Newspaper 

long word has t<5 be taken out and none is to go in 
its place, the best plan is to cut out enough other words 
to permit the removal of an entire line. 

Next to clearness the quality which an editor most 
likes to see displayed in a newspaper story is sprightli- 
ness, or at least readableness. There are some stories 
printed in the papers, such as legal proceedings, that 
are necessarily formal and dry, but were it possible 
the wide-awake editor would have none of this. Could 
he do it he would make accounts of funerals even 
pleasant and attractive reading. The stories which he 
admires are those which, alive and full of vigor, move 
with a good swing. Even a sad story must have life 
in it to meet his approbation. The sadness must 
be set forth realistically and strongly, without a sus- 
picion of bathos, and there dare be no halting, no 
signs of weakness. For dullness an editor will take 
no excuse. Be it displayed either in a man or in a story 
he puts upon it at the earliest possible moment the 
mark of his disapproval. 

A reporter who wishes to succeed aims to give all 
his stories a touch of originality. A star newsgatherer 
chancing to be sent to a small tenement-house fire will 
search the house from top to bottom, or if need be, the 
entire neighborhood, to find an incident odd, amusing, 
or sorrowful, and not infrequently will write a long 
story that, while based on the fire, is supported by a 
pedestal of such extreme slenderness that it is hardly 
perceptible. He may for the main feature of a fire 
story take the destruction of a family heirloom, the 
rescue of a pet dog, the marvelous escape from suffoca- 
tion of a canary bird, an accident to a fireman, the 
enormous crowd attracted by the fire, the unusually 
large number of engines summoned, or the presence in 



Writing a Newspaper Story 197 

the crowd of notable persons. A reporter, however, 
must handle local color with discretion. The man who 
fails to keep it within reason runs a risk of getting a 
talk of the kind given a New York reporter who, sent 
to look after a $200,000 grain elevator fire, delivered 
to his city editor a column story of which over two- 
thirds was devoted to a description of the uses of a 
grain elevator and the methods employed in its opera- 
tion; or w r orse still, find himself in the predicament of 
the man who, while congratulating himself on the ex- 
cellence of his column story telling of the rescue of a 
parrot from a burning tenement, was hastily sum- 
moned to the managing editor's office and there con- 
fronted with an issue of a rival paper which, under 
a large heading, made it known that the fire had 
burned two women to death. 

Because vigor is so highly esteemed by editors it 
often happens that a novice at the start gets a higher 
ranking than he deserves. His initial efforts arouse 
high hopes that practice will enable him to do wonder- 
ful things ; but at the end of six months it is found that 
the experience gained is more than offset by the fresh- 
ness lost. Another individual who is well known in 
the big newspaper offices is the "one-story man." 
This reporter brings with him one good story or one 
original idea. Presenting it to view he comes in for 
praise. But never is his success repeated. So com- 
mon is this performance that many editors contend 
that every man who walks has one good story in him. 

The idea promoted by school-teachers, among whom 
it is apparently a tradition, and fostered by the "Rules 
for Writing for the Press," that appear among the back 
pages of some text-books, that everything written for a 
newspaper must be boiled down to the last degree is all 



198 Making a Newspaper 

nonsense. An editor does not allow a reporter to take 
up space by saying the same thing in different ways, 
but he rarely requires him to express a good story in 
the briefest form possible. If condensation were a 
high virtue two-page newspapers would be common, 
for there are not many stories which could not be 
crowded into a few paragraphs. Instead of demand- 
ing compression an editor merely asks that each sen- 
tence say something ; that the story grow as its length 
increases. The ability to fill space is esteemed fully 
as highly as the ability to condense, and a first-class 
man is expected to be able to do either equally well. 
Not allowed to say the same thing in different ways, a 
reporter told to expand a story has only one resource, 
to keep on adding on details; and that he is able to add 
the details, although some of them may be far from 
essential, proves that he is a good newsgatherer. An 
experienced reporter can determine when a story is 
not worth much as well as can an editor, but when he 
encounters a story which can be condensed or ex- 
panded as suits the editor's fancy or the demand for 
material, he pursues the news as if he knew that a long 
story would be in order. Then returning to his office, 
he is prepared to give satisfaction in either direction. 
A lesson along this line was administered to a young 
reporter in New York a few years ago when he told 
his city editor that he had learned that two cases of 
smallpox, the first discovered in the city for several 
years, had been reported to the Board of Health. 
"Write a half column about it," said the city editor. 
The young reporter reluctantly announced that he could 
not fill the space, whereupon another man was assigned 
to the story. When the second man returned to the 
office the printers were crying for copy and the city 



Writing a Newspaper Story 199 

editor doubled his former demands. "Write a 
column," he said, "the story is worth it." As if he 
had been expecting this order all along the experi- 
enced man got to work and produced a story of the 
required length that was good reading to the end. He 
told how the new cases happened to be discovered, told 
all that was known of their history, gave interviews 
with the health board officers on the likelihood of an 
epidemic, dealt with the danger of contagion and the 
efficacy of vaccination, and ended with a reference 
to the last cases previously found in the city and a his- 
tory of smallpox epidemics. 

Technical words should be avoided, as they may con- 
fuse the ordinary reader. That this is true is often 
proved when an editor, after the announcement of 
some wonderful discovery in the realms of science, 
employs an expert to prepare an article on the subject. 
The expert, understanding the matter in all its details 
and perfectly familiar with previous accomplishments 
in the same line, cannot conceive that the whole matter 
is a closed book to most persons and submits an article 
that entirely fails of its purpose. Highly entertaining 
and instructive to a small number it is absolutely un- 
intelligible to the great majority. This was well illus- 
trated when the discovery of the Roentgen rays was 
made known. Few of the articles published succeeded 
in telling more than what could be accomplished by the 
use of the rays; and most of those which were read- 
able were written not by scientists but by reporters 
whose mental alertness enabled them to comprehend 
involved explanations and set them forth in every- 
day words. 

On an evening paper the past tense should be em- 
ployed wherever possible, thus doing away with the 



200 Making a Newspaper 

necessity of rewriting and changing late in the day. 
A beginner is often placed at a disadvantage when he 
is told to write in the past tense about something that 
is still in the future, but the experienced men are 
usually clever enough to overcome the difficulty. Not 
once in a week does an old-time evening paper reporter 
write a story that has to be changed in the late editions. 
Instead of beginning a story, "The detectives who are 
looking for the murderer of John Smith hope to catch 
him before night," thus calling for a change of tense 
all through in case the murderer is caught, he writes : 
"The detectives engaged in searching for the murderer 
of John Smith announced this morning that they hoped 
to catch him before the day was over.' , Then if the 
murderer is captured the reporter embodies the in- 
formation in a paragraph, and the old story is printed 
with the paragraph serving as an introduction. Ex- 
amples of this sort of thing are to be found in the 
evening papers every day. In the summer the re- 
porter writes : "New York awoke this morning feel- 
ing that it was in for another scorching day," and 
in the winter he writes : "The local forecaster an- 
nounced this morning after he had received his reports 
and consulted his instruments that the city was in for 
a snowstorm." In either case the story can run as 
it is, no matter what happens, and can be brought up 
to the minute by the addition of a new introduction 
at any time. 

The subject of new introductions calls for an exposi- 
tion of the "lead," "insert," and "add," all of which 
are continually employed in newspaper offices. The 
lead has really already been explained, for a lead is a 
new introduction ; but a few words more will be given 
it. It would never do for a paper printing a column- 



Writing a Newspaper Story 201 

long account of a court trial to reserve the verdict of 
the jury, the climax of the whole story, for the clos- 
ing sentence; yet an evening paper printing a running 
account of the proceedings probably has a column 
story in its pages before the verdict is rendered. Where 
this is the case the reporter who is attending the trial, 
when the verdict is announced, writes a new introduc- 
tion and sends it to his office marked, "Lead, murder 
trial." A copy reader sees that in the next edition of 
the paper the story starts with the new introduction. 
On a progressive afternoon paper almost every long 
running story is provided with a new lead for every 
edition. 

The "insert" is a paragraph that goes into the body 
of a story, usually to explain in detail. Thus a re- 
porter writing about a fire may say that several per- 
sons were rescued by the firemen. Later, when he 
ascertains the names of the persons rescued, he writes 
this information and turns it over to the copy reader 
who read the story marked "Insert fire," whereupon 
the copy reader cuts out the original indefinite refer- 
ence to the rescues and substitutes the new paragraph. 
The insert is particularly useful in adding to "Among 
those present." 

The "add" is nothing more than an addition to a story 
and is employed when the reporter, while having fresh 
information, does not deem it of sufficient importance 
to form the basis of a new lead. The lead, insert, and 
add are all written as if they were complete stories. 
They have to begin with paragraphs, the first page 
is always No. 1, and at the close the reporter 
writes "The End." A part of a story which he ex- 
pects to supplant later with an insert the reporter 
should include in a separate paragraph so that it 



202 Making a Newspaper 

may be "lifted" without disturbing the rest of the 
article. 

Any report which grows as the day advances is 
called a "running story/' and nothing pleases a space- 
paid reporter better than to be sent to a court trial to 
write a story of this kind. The news is unfolded as if 
for his exclusive benefit, he is in no danger of defeat 
so long as he does not go to sleep, and he is pretty 
sure to get a lot of "space" into the paper. The old- 
style definite question and answer court report is very 
rarely used now. Instead the papers usually present 
accounts written in the conversational style. All the 
unessential questions and answers are omitted, but the 
reporter endeavors to tell not only what occurred but 
how it occurred. Thus he writes : 

"What!" shouted the prosecuting attorney, advanc- 
ing and shaking his finger in the witness's face. "Do 
you mean to say that you were in the room at this 
time and did not hear the shot fired?" 

"I certainly do," the witness replied, adding after 
a moment's pause, "I'm hard of hearing." 

"You must be," remarked the prosecutor, as he 
turned to consult his assistant. 

John Jones, the next witness, declared that he was 
asleep in a corner at the time of the shooting, and made 
way for Policeman Richard Brown, who took the de- 
fendant into custody. Brown told how he had been 
called into the saloon. 

"What time was this?" interrupted the prosecuting 
attorney. 

"Five minutes after midnight," was the reply. 

The easiest form of newspaper writing is the quota- 
tion, and the consequence is that interviewing is done 



Writing a Newspaper Story 203 

to extremes. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry gets the 
chance to tell what he knows in print, and usually he 
takes a quarter of a column to say what might be better 
said in a few lines. Many times a reporter writes 
his story in the form of an interview because he knows 
that in this way he can fill more space than he could in 
any other. Then, accused of padding or of writing 
poor English, he takes refuge behind the excuse that 
he was quoting. The pliability of the quotation and the 
imaginary brilliancy of some reporters, combined, have 
in more than one city added materially to the difficulty 
of gathering news. Sent to get a piece of news and 
getting nothing more than a cool reception, they write 
long articles setting forth the questions they asked and 
follow each question with the reply, "I have nothing to 
say," "I decline to answer," or "I refuse to talk for 
publication." This sort of performance has its effect 
in certain quarters, with the result that a reporter, 
asking a truck-driver how he happened to run over a 
child, is greeted with: "I refuse to talk for publica- 
tion," or asking a janitor about a robbery, hears, "I 
decline to discuss the matter." Often, a reporter who 
gets a setback of this kind has cause to wonder whether 
he has not contributed to his own discomfiture. 

On a morning paper every reporter has to be able 
to write his own stories, but on the more aggressive 
evening papers there are now many men employed who 
devote themselves exclusively to gathering news. All 
the information they pick up is telephoned to the offices 
and there put on paper by corps of clever writers who 
are able to make the most of whatever comes to them. 
These office writers know exactly what style of writing 
the editors want, which results in stories uniformly 
satisfactory, and being rapid typewriter operators they 



204 Making a Newspaper 

help to get the news into print in a hurry. For the 
past five years the evening papers have been coming to 
depend more and more upon the telephone, until 
now, in some establishments the reporters never return 
to the office with their information ; they would be 
censured if they did, for the editors hold that a man's 
time is always worth more than the saving he would 
accomplish by delivering his news in person. Through 
the use of the telephone, too, the editors succeed in 
keeping their reporters busy every minute, for as soon 
as a man has finished giving a story over the wire, he 
is detailed to a fresh assignment. Some of these 
reporters get even their first assignments of the 
morning over the wire, being required to call up their 
city editor as soon as they have eaten their breakfast, 
and thus have no reason to visit the office, except once 
a week to get their pay. They are expected, too, to 
make these visits on their own time. Of course, the 
reporter who is measured only by his ability to gather 
news, must give continual satisfaction. A serious de- 
feat is not necessary to land him out of work ; he need 
be only a little slow in getting to a telephone. 

The beginner on a newspaper is pretty sure, either in 
his searches for news or in his contests with the other 
reporters, to meet with experiences that seem to him 
to be worth telling about, and, because of this, he needs 
the warning that most editors hold fast to the belief 
that the public not only does not care to learn what the 
reporters have done, but is best pleased when no men- 
tion is made of them. Unless a reporter, therefore, 
does something far out of the ordinary, he had better 
not mention his performances in his stories; certainly 
before spending much time writing about himself he 
should consult his city editor. 



Writing a Newspaper Story 205 

More and more are the employees of daily papers 
coming to be looked upon as part of the machinery. 
The personal pronoun "I" now has for company in 
oblivion, so far as most papers are concerned, the edi- 
torial "we," and complaint is made whenever a man 
who edits news passes a story which even, keep- 
ing the writer's personality out of sight to the extent 
that he is referred to by no appellation, allows a con- 
clusion or .an opinion to supplant facts. Thus an 
editor is quick to pounce upon a reporter who, return- 
ing from a public meeting, writes that a man is a 
wonderful orator, and inform him that he is to confine 
himself to his province : tell what the man said, how he 
said it, and how his speech was received by the crowd ; 
then allow the readers to decide about the rating of the 
man as an orator. Again, an editor protests when a 
reporter writes about a "terrible catastrophe," or "an 
awful storm." These expressions, in addition to being 
hackneyed, are uncalled for, as a recital of facts will per- 
mit the readers to form their own conclusions. "The 
scene beggars description," is forbidden in all large 
offices, because it is an expression of opinion, a stock 
phrase which has outlived its usefulness, and because it 
says in effect that the writer acknowledges that the 
task which he is about to attempt is beyond his limita- 
tions. This particular phrase appearing in an intro- 
duction never fails to arouse a city editor's anger, and 
occasionally the offender gets a chance to ruminate 
over a remark something like : "Evidently, I should 
have sent a reporter out on that story." 

Humor, the beginner is likely to find, is highly 
esteemed by his city editor, and because of this he needs 
to be warned against trying to be funny at the expense 
of the proprieties. If a man falls into a bed of mortar 



206 Making a Newspaper 

and is pulled out unhurt, the reporter can be as keen as 
he pleases; but if the man is taken out dead or badly 
hurt there is certainly no occasion for mirth. Not 
often does a reporter forget himself so far as to at- 
tempt levity in a story that has to do with a death, but 
almost every beginner does have to be called to ac- 
count for offending in a lesser degree. Good taste 
should a] ways be remembered. 

Good tools are necessary for good work, and for a 
reporter, whether he uses a typewriter or not, this 
means good lead pencils and plenty of them. The 
man who tries to write with a scratchy or smudgy pen- 
cil wastes time every day that is worth more than a 
box of good pencils, and the same thing is true of the 
man who has only one pencil and has to stop to sharpen 
it every five minutes, while he is writing. Pencil and 
knife borrowers are both nuisances. The beginner 
should buy a dozen pencils — there are two kinds that 
are in high favor with New York reporters — sharpen 
the whole lot with his own knife and keep them handy. 
At least one pencil he should carry with him always, 
for a reporter without a pencil is like a soldier without 
a gun. 

Inability to write a hand that can be easily read is a 
serious drawback. Poor writing can generally be 
read by the copy readers, but the compositors, getting 
only small parts of stories and thus being unable to 
"make sense," are always hampered by illegible words. 
Hair lines are barred as the compositors have to read 
at a distance of about two feet, and the stub pen is 
forbidden because it blots. 

A reporter should write a uniform hand, keep the 
number of words on a page about the same, and be 
able to estimate his copy in type space. A city editor 



Writing a Newspaper Story 207 

always provides copy paper of one size, which makes 
the estimating easy. Incidentally, when the city 
editor asks for a "stick" story, he means one that 
in type will fill between two and a half and three 
inches. 

There is probably no one who is not aware that 
copy must be written on one side of the paper only, 
but it is not everyone who knows why. The reason 
is that the pages are pasted together in the composing 
room and cut into new sizes. 

Use plenty of paper, is the best of advice. Leave 
a margin of two inches at the top of each page to 
facilitate the joining of the pages in the composing 
room; leave an inch margin at the left of each page; 
and give the copy reader a chance by leaving space 
for interlineations. Do not try to crowd words, par- 
ticularly at the bottom of a page. Take a new sheet 
of paper rather than crowd, but a sheet that bears only 
a few words should be attached to the preceding one. 
Never run a word or a name from one page to an- 
other. In starting a story leave a space of four or 
five inches at the top of the page for the writing of the 
heading. 

Always number your pages, beginning with 1. 
Place the figures in the middle at the top, and write 
them plainly; make them prominent. If your story 
goes to the copy reader a page at a time, add a catch 
line to the number, thus: "1 Storm," "2 Storm." A 
copy reader, when he has three or four stories coming 
to him piecemeal, must have some way of keeping 
track of them. 

At the end of a story draw three short vertical marks 
and surround them by a ring, or else within a circle 
write, "The End." 



208 Making a Newspaper 

Make frequent paragraphs and before each one 
place a paragraph mark, not forgetting to indent. A 
new paragraph should be started with every change of 
subject. Where a sentence ends at the bottom of a page 
and there is danger that the printer will make a para- 
graph where none is desired, run a line from the last 
word down to the edge of the paper and run another 
line from the first word on the following page to the 
top of the paper. These lines notify the printer to 
"make even." When a paragraph ends at the bottom 
of a page add a paragraph mark. 

Do not erase or write over. When you have made 
a mistake run your pencil through the words that are 
to be omitted, and make a fresh start. Do not leave 
one or two words scattered among a nest of correc- 
tions, as they may be overlooked. Rewrite sentences 
or paragraphs rather than run any risk. 

When quoting, place quotation marks at the begin- 
ning only of each paragraph except the last one, which 
carries marks at both the beginning and the end. A 
quotation within a quotation carries single marks, 
'thus,' and a quotation within this carries ' "double 
marks." ' Quotations that carry more than two sets 
of marks are not allowed. Another form of ex- 
pression must be employed. 

Italics and parenthesis marks are forbidden in many 
offices, and even when allowed they should be used 
sparingly. A single line drawn under a word tells 
the printer that it is to go in Italics. Two lines call 
for small capitals, and three lines for CAPITALS. 

Do not abbreviate. A circle drawn around a num- 
ber or an abbreviated word instructs the printer to 
spell it out, but the device is not looked upon with 
favor, as it only shifts work to the printers' shoulders. 



Writing a Newspaper Story 209 

In most offices numbered streets up to and including 
one hundred are spelled out. 

Punctuate, if you know how. If you do not know 
how do not attempt to cover up your ignorance by 
throwing in marks at random. Until you learn how 
to punctuate, be content with marking periods. Make 
your periods large enough to be seen easily. Many 
reporters surround the dot with a circle, or use a small 
cross instead of the dot. 

If you purposely misspell a word or make an absurd 
statement, write on the margin: "Follow Copy." If 
you do not the printer may attempt a correction. 

Be sure that you do not omit the word "not." This 
is a common mistake and it always makes trouble : the 
trouble is serious if the "not" happens to be omitted 
from in front of a word like "guilty." 

If your capital letters are of the same form as your 
small letters and differ from them in size only, mark 
your capitals by drawing three lines under them. In 
some offices capitals must differ from small letters in 
form as well as size. 

Always cross the t's and dot the i's. Fearing that 
a u will be taken for an n, make a small mark under 
it. Mark an n by a line above. If you are not sure 
that any word will be understood print it. Don't take 
chances. 

Be careful of streets and numbers. Do not write 
street where you mean avenue, and be extremely care- 
ful not to transpose numbers. 

Print proper names where there is the least chance of 
mistake and be sure to spell a name the same way all 
through a story; nothing angers the average man more 
than to have his name misspelled in a newspaper. 
Ask how names are spelled if you are in doubt while 



210 Making a Newspaper 

gathering news ; half the time it is not safe to trust to 
sound — Burns and Byrnes, for example. Take pains 
to get surnames and initials; usually there is no ex- 
cuse for writing : "A man of the name of Jones." 

In writing a death notice be positive about initials; 
do not be content with referring to the city directory 
for them. A death notice should invariably include 
the person's age, cause of death and time, and time 
and place of funeral. 

Names of railroads should be given in full. 

Be watchful in writing firm names. The New 
York reporter who wrote that Blank & Co., brokers, 
had made an assignment, when it was J. B. Blank 
& Co. who were in trouble, involved himself and his 
paper in difficulties that made work for the lawyers. 
It happened that two men of the same name headed 
brokerage firms. 

Designate police stations and police courts in a 
manner intelligible to the general public; the "19th 
precinct" means nothing to most persons. And it is 
just as well where, as in New York, street numbers 
usually proceed without reference to intersecting 
streets, to give the nearest intersecting street in addi- 
tion to a street number. Few persons can tell offhand 
how far up town 2700 Broadway is, or at which 
elevated railroad station they shall alight if they wish 
to go to 400 Manhattan Avenue. 

The stress laid upon accuracy in newspaper offices is 
greatly underestimated. Reporters are expected to get 
names, numbers, and main facts, right at all hazard, 
and they are reprimanded when it is found that through 
carelessness they have made even minor misstatements. 
Exaggeration is often winked at where the departure 
from reality can hurt no one; but no city editor will 



Writing a Newspaper Story 2 1 1 

print a story that a reporter confesses is not true. He 
may make it plain that he demands a magnified recital, 
but he does not want to be told that the demand has 
been recognized. Usually reporters strive to get the 
exact facts. Persons who find fault with the news- 
papers for their errors would have less to say if they 
spent a single day gathering news. They would find, 
for example, that when four persons witness an acci- 
dent, each one has a different story to tell, although all 
are truthful and endeavor to be accurate. A reporter 
coming on the scene after the accident is an hour old, 
must accept the story that seems most plausible, and 
it is nothing against him if some persons who witnessed 
the affair declare his story wrong. How easy it is for 
an occurrence to be viewed in different ways is every 
day illustrated in the courts. Where an effort is made 
to place the blame for an accident or a street fight, the 
witnesses are generally about evenly divided. 

No paper has room for an out and out liar, and it 
goes hard with a reporter who purposely tells a false- 
hood about an individual or an organization. Editors, 
too, are averse to offending classes, such as nationali- 
ties, and this is well proved by the growing rarity in 
the papers of dialect stories. By no means do the 
newspapers assume the intolerant attitude in which 
they are pictured. They are quick to listen to complaints, 
particularly if the persons who make them have some 
standing, and they are every year displaying greater 
readiness to make retractions. It has become pretty 
generally understood among intelligent persons that 
a newspaper can be reached through its pocket if in 
no other way, and in all the larger cities there is an 
increasing number of lawyers who busy themselves 
spreading the information. The man who is libeled 



212 Making a Newspaper 

in these days is almost sure to have it brought to his 
attention that more than one lawyer is willing to under- 
take a suit for damages on a percentage basis. And 
even when he has no grounds upon which to threaten 
a suit for damages, the man who goes to a news- 
paper office to make a complaint is now sure of con- 
siderate treatment; is not discouraged by long waits 
or requests to call again, nor passed around from 
pillar to post. The following notice, prominently dis- 
played in the reception room of the New York World's 
editorial rooms, makes clear the attitude of the editors 
of that publication: 

"Any person calling at the office asking a correction 
of any publication in any edition of the World must be 
taken by the employee applied to direct to the Manag- 
ing Editor or City Editor. 

"Any employee violating this rule will be dismissed." 

A reporter should be slow to write anything that 
attacks a man's character or his credit. It is all 
right to say that a man has been arrested when such is 
a fact, but it is bad policy to say or even intimate that 
a man is to be arrested ; nor is it safe to announce that 
a man is guilty of a crime before his guilt has been 
decreed by the courts. The police do not make arrests 
every time they threaten to, and a man tried and found 
not guilty, or discharged for lack of evidence, is innocent 
in the eyes of the law. A reporter runs a risk even when 
he quotes the police as saying that a prisoner is guilty; 
a policeman has no license to declare sentence any 
more than any other individual, and a reporter can 
write : "it is alleged," "they say," and "it is reported" 
without insuring his paper in the least against a suit 



Writing a Newspaper Story 2 1 3 

for damages. These phrases so glibly slipped into 
newspaper stories are nothing more than sham de- 
fenses. The charge of negligence is hard to prove, 
and for this reason physicians are looked upon as 
dangerous game by newspapers; of course, they are 
slow to attack lawyers. It does not do to write: 
"Jones says that Smith is a scoundrel and a liar," 
unless the reporter is ready to prove the allegations 
in court, and it does not do to be tricky and write: 
"Is Smith a scoundrel?" or "We do not believe Smith 
is a scoundrel." To be frank, an experienced news- 
paper reporter who goes into the law of libel care- 
fully, always shudders to think of the number of times 
he has unwittingly laid himself open to attack. It is 
actionable to present only one side's testimony in the 
report of a court trial, and a score of other things are 
actionable which newspapers do every day. In gen- 
eral, a reporter is safe if he plays fair. But he should 
not take it upon himself to suppress news on his own 
initiative because he thinks it libelous. His duty is to 
carry the news to his office and let the editors do the 
deciding. 

With many young reporters the notion exists that 
a newspaper man is not at his best unless he is finding 
fault. They go out of their way to employ ridicule 
and sarcasm, and pride themselves on their ability to 
annoy and hurt. Some of them get so bad that they 
are always ready to stretch the truth for the sake of 
setting down what they think are particularly telling 
examples of their own smartness; and it must be con- 
fessed that occasionally experienced newspaper men 
who pose as fair judges are the worst offenders. 
Supposed to be critics they substitute "flash talk" for 
criticism, and deride because this gives them the best 



214 Making a Newspaper 

opportunities to make telling hits. The critic who 
belittles everything is frequently not the keen observer 
that he would have it supposed; not daring to pro- 
nounce a thing good and thus, in a manner, stand 
sponsor for it, he censures always, hoping that those 
who differ with him will be suspicious that they 
admire because they are not entirely competent to 
judge. Anyone can find fault, and almost anyone 
can say mean things, but there are few persons who 
can praise without becoming fulsome and effusive. 
This is something that every young reporter should 
remember. Moreover, it is neither becoming nor 
brave to attack a person who cannot defend himself. 
The newspaper worker who prides himself on his 
ability to ridicule usually needs a lesson on the subject 
of fair play. If he is hard to impress he not infre- 
quently gets the lesson in the courts. 

On an evening paper the main force of reporters 
begins work at 8 o'clock in the morning. As fast as 
a man finishes one assignment he gets another, and 
this continues until the close of the day. If he gets 
any lunch it is because one of his assignments permits 
him to drop into a restaurant, as the city editor's 
schedule makes no allowance for hunger. Morning 
paper reporters are expected to reach the office be- 
tween noon and i o'clock. Most of them get assign- 
ments without delay, and generally they get back to the 
office and finish their first stories by 5.30 o'clock. 
Those who do this then go out for dinner, returning at 
the end of an hour to take other assignments. Having 
written second stories, most of the men are allowed 
to go home, and generally the office is pretty well 
cleared a half hour before midnight. 

Over their afternoon assignments morning reporters 



Writing a Newspaper Story 2 1 5 

can take their own time. They need not call their 
search for news closed until they feel sure that they 
have covered every point, and engaged in writing they 
are allowed to set their own pace. On evening assign- 
ments they must bestir themselves, and late at night 
their stories are frequently taken from them a page at a 
time. Evening paper reporters have to work under 
pressure constantly. Almost always a man has to cut 
his hunt for news a little -short in order to get his in- 
formation into the office in time for the next edition, 
and it is the usual thing, when he writes in the office, 
for a copy boy to stand at his side ready to carry off 
each page as fast as it is finished. Not often does an 
evening paper reporter get a chance to go over his story 
before it goes to the copy readers; an experienced 
man, when the opportunity does present itself, is glad 
to accept it. 

Although they are always subject to instructions 
reporters have plenty of license. Indeed, the "stars," 
receiving very close directions, are led to believe that 
they have not been giving satisfaction in the fullest 
degree, and hark back over their performances for a 
week or two in efforts to ascertain wherein they 
have failed. The more commonplace newsgatherers 
do not get as much freedom as do the leaders, but not 
often are they more than lightly fettered. One result 
is that the reporters have a great deal more to say 
about what gets into the paper and how, and what 
stays out, than is generally supposed. The man who 
imagines that a reporter is only a messenger or 
an errand runner is much mistaken, and the mistake 
may cost him dearly if, thinking himself safe from 
reprisal, he goes out of his way to be ugly when he is 
approached by a newspaper representative. The re- 



2 1 6 Making a Newspaper 

porter, first of all, if the man is anything more than a 
momentary consideration, can defend himself valiantly 
and even make a forward movement of great aggres- 
siveness, and having good reason for feeling aggrieved, 
he can generally go a step further and get his editors 
to espouse his cause. No first-class paper asks its re- 
porters to accept insults in silence, and few of them 
will fail to support their men when they are attacked. 

The power a reporter may wield is particularly well 
illustrated by the following incident which occurred in 
an Eastern city: A certain professional man upon 
whom the reporters were occasionally forced to call, 
owing to interests which he represented, while angry 
one day over some extraneous matter, pounced upon a 
young reporter who happened into his office, and sub- 
jected him to an atrocious tongue-lashing. Astonished, 
the object of the attack, who had never seen the man 
before, asked wherein he had offended. The reply he re- 
ceived was an order to get outside the door. About a 
half-dozen years later the professional man announced 
himself as a candidate for the nomination for a high city 
office, and then the reporter, by this time a political 
writer, got the chance for which he had been waiting. 
He told his editor-in-chief about the attack that had 
been made on him, and after proving that the man had 
none of the qualities of a vote-getter, received per- 
mission to oppose the nomination in the paper. He 
repaid the debt with interest in a single article, which 
set the man forth as the overbearing, intolerant, 
domineering individual he was, and did it so skillfully 
that even the man's friends and supporters had to ac- 
knowledge, after reading it, that he stood no chance 
of election. The article put the candidate, whose 
prospects had until its appearance been of the best, en- 



Writing a Newspaper Story 2 1 7 

tirely out of the running, and further, it induced the 
party leaders to cross his name off their list of eligibles 
for all time. 

To their credit, the battles in which reporters engage 
for personal reasons are exceedingly rare. Commonly, 
when they get the credit for performances of this kind 
they are only acting under orders, and fight strongly 
for no other reason than that they are faithful soldiers. 
As a rule reporters do not carry chips on their shoulders 
and are slow to take offense. Rebuffed when asking 
questions, they ask themselves what they would have 
done had the same questions been put to them, and 
make plenty of allowance for momentary losses of 
temper. 

Frequently, though, reporters do go to some pains to 
be helpful. Convinced that a cause is just, they keep 
it before the public, and gain adherents for it by refer- 
ring to it as if its merits were everywhere acknowl- 
edged. For an individual they can perform service 
equally valuable, and many a man who imagines that 
his name gets into the papers because the editors ad- 
mire him, if he only knew it, is indebted to the report- 
ers alone. It is almost an unheard-of thing for editors 
to tell the reporters to advance the cause of any person 
not firmly established in public life. The reporters 
must be the first to recognize worth ; if they fail to see 
it the editors never hear of it, as they view the world 
through the eyes of their representatives. 

What the reporters can accomplish when they try 
is illustrated now and then when they bring into view 
and uphold as a humorist and philosopher some illiter- 
ate individual who is willing to pose as something that 
he would like to be. The campaign usually opens 
with the individual meeting the reporters in a friendly 



2 1 8 Making a Newspaper 

spirit, making a couple of original or timely remarks 
and telling the reporters to say whatever they please 
about him. Finding that he will "stand for it," the 
reporters put into his mouth all the good stories, wit- 
ticisms, and jokes of which they can think. He gets the 
credit for all the bright sayings and slang expressions 
they can rTicuiufacture, and not infrequently becomes a 
national character. The Bowery funny men are not 
real. They are only paper men constructed to turn 
the product of the reporters' brains into space-rate 
money. 



CHAPTER XIII 
NEWS FROM OUTSIDE THE CITY. 

There are in the United States at the present time 
very few large newspapers which collect all their tele- 
graph news themselves ; not more than could be counted 
upon the fingers of one hand. The others get the bulk 
of their information concerning what is going on in the 
outside world from one or another of the great news- 
gathering organizations, of which there are about half 
a dozen operating in this country. Any one of these 
concerns can give a good service, but one of them 
which is conducted on the co-operative expense-sharing 
plan overshadows all the others. It maintains over 
34,000 miles of leased wires, has a correspondent in 
every city and in almost every village in the United 
States, and is represented directly or indirectly, for it 
maintains working agreements with several foreign 
news agencies, in every civilized country in the world. 
Also it employs many special correspondents, who can 
be sent on short notice to any places where their pres- 
ence is deemed advisable. 

While the newsgathering organizations undoubtedly 
tend to destroy competition, all the patrons of any one 
of them being placed on the same general footing, they 
have probably more than any other agency enabled the 
American newspapers to become the universal re- 
flectors they now are. So accustomed have newspaper 
readers become to having columns and columns of 

219 



220 Making a Newspaper 

foreign intelligence and news sent from distant parts 
of our own country offered to them every day, that 
they forget about the labor of procuring it and, except 
in rare instances, give no thought to its great cost. But 
it is not so many years since even the greatest papers 
printed only the extremely important foreign news, 
and gave very brief accounts of happenings in dis- 
tant parts of the United States. There are plenty of 
newspaper workers who can remember the time when 
the appearance of a half-column long cablegram called 
for wide comment. 

To gain an idea of the extent to which the scope 
of American newspapers has widened in recent years 
one need only compare the reports of the fighting 
between Russia and Japan with those printed when 
Japan had China for an opponent. The change is 
made even more apparent, for here the enemies and 
the fighting ground are the same in both instances, 
when one compares the reports that came from South 
Africa during the last war between the Boers and the 
English with those received when these foes clashed 
less than fifteen years before. During the last war 
the papers, even those of the smaller cities, told about 
the battles at length and frequently gave details of 
skirmishes. In 1886, the report of the important battle 
of Majuba Hill, so often referred to in the course of 
the second war, as presented in one of the foremost 
New York papers occupied just six lines. In 1878 the 
death of Pope Pius IX was set forth in some of the 
New York papers in a ten-line story, and even this 
came not from Rome but from London. When Pope 
Leo XIII died the foremost American papers printed 
almost a page, most of it direct from Rome. At the 
present time papers in the leading cities receive from 



News from Outside the City 221 

the co-operative news association about 50,000 words 
a day, and of this a fifth sometimes comes from abroad. 
The ordinary newsgathering organizations are in 
effect nothing more than news retailers. Collecting 
the news at an enormous expense they deliver it to each 
subscriber at a fraction of its cost, the price, omitting 
the question of profit, being the first cost divided by the 
number of v subscribers. The great co-operative organ- 
ization corresponds to an exchange, so far as United 
States news is concerned. Each paper which is a 
member — there are about seven hundred of them — 
contributes its choice news and in return gets the 
gleanings of the other members and the information 
collected by the organization's own reporters. There 
are four divisions of the association, Eastern, Central, 
Southern, and Western with headquarters or centers in 
New York, Chicago, Washington, and San Francisco 
respectively, and within these main divisions are a num- 
ber of small sub-divisions. Each paper receives all 
the news of its own sub-division, except that gathered 
by its immediate rivals, and the particularly important 
news of all the other divisions. The news of most 
small cities in which it has members the association 
procures at no cost except telegraph tolls, the editors or 
owners of the papers sending their stories that are of 
more than local interest to the nearest distributing office 
without compensation. In large cities the organiza- 
tion maintains salaried editors or managers, who are 
kept supplied with proofs from the offices of local mem- 
bers and thus enabled to get the news on the wires 
with little delay. In Washington, the state capitals, 
and a few of the largest cities staffs of good reporters 
are employed, and wherever there is a local news- 
gathering concern the larger organization receives its 



222 Making a Newspaper 

service as does any of the subscribing newspapers. In 
villages the organization has correspondents who are 
paid for such of their contributions as get into print. 
One set of foreign correspondents is all that is needed. 
The news these foreign correspondents contribute is 
distributed impartially, abbreviated stories, however, 
being sent to the papers of small cities. 

A paper which receives the service of one of the 
newsgathering organizations may, it can easily be 
seen, get along very well without having correspond- 
ents of its own. The news is poured into its office 
from the nearest headquarters of the organization every 
day, and as long as the editors are content to do with- 
out beats they need not give a thought to what may 
be going on in the outside world. But the largest 
papers are not satisfied to print only what comes from 
the news agencies. Each one employs two or three 
foreign correspondents, stations men in half a dozen 
or so of the leading American cities, and in addition 
has a great number of space-paid correspondents scat- 
tered in different parts of the country. To their special 
representatives the papers look for occasional beats and 
for detailed reports of important happenings, which 
accounts for the fact that a paper often prints two re- 
ports of one event ; one is furnished by a news agency, 
the other by a special correspondent. A paper must 
also look to special correspondents when it desires 
partisan political news, for supplying papers of all 
faiths the newsgathering organizations remain neutral 
at all times. 

In some cities the papers, even receiving the service 
of a news agency, send their staff reporters to dis- 
tant places where there is momentous news to be gath- 
ered, but were the truth known it would be found that 



News from Outside the City 223 

most of them, when they dispatch their men on long 
and expensive expeditions, do so in self-defense. A 
few publications, well supplied with money, ambitious 
to attract attention to themselves, take the initiative, 
and their competitors follow the lead because they can 
do nothing else without losing prestige. The New 
York dailies would certainly have got along with 
fewer special correspondents during the Spanish- 
American war had it not been that a publication which 
only a short time before had passed into new hands 
was trying, regardless of cost, to build up its circula- 
tion. Every New York paper made expenditures that 
were out of all proportion to earnings during this war, 
and some of them sustained losses that offset the earn- 
ings of years. The leader in extravagance, it was 
afterward declared by its editor, was operated, while 
the war was at its height, at an average loss of $300,- 
000 a month. 

The original newsgathering concern came into ex- 
istence as a result of over-keen competition, and the 
date of its founding proves that newspaper rivalry is 
by no means a new thing. There were as early as 1840 
several New York papers that were spending more 
than $15,000 a year each, to maintain swift-sailing 
vessels which, cruising about from fifty to one hun- 
dred miles outside of Sandy Hook, intercepted in- 
coming ships and hurried the foreign newspapers and 
the letters from correspondents they carried ashore, 
and a few years later it was a common occurrence for 
the reporters of rival papers to race from Boston to 
New York on special trains with the news landed at 
Boston. Hoping to humble a great paper several pub- 
lications once went so far as to send a fast vessel all the 
way across the Atlantic to procure the latest intelli- 



224 Making a Newspaper 

gence for them. To some of the New York newspaper 
owners who were getting lots of excitement but sav- 
ing little money, it occurred late in the forties that a 
change was advisable, and after some preliminary talk 
they came to an agreement that they should join 
forces, maintain among them only one set of men to 
gather the news from certain places, and divide the 
expense. The dominating co-operative association is 
the outgrowth of this agreement. 

The telegraph editor — he might well be called the 
world editor, for, leaving out only his own city and the 
territory immediately surrounding it, his news field 
extends to the ends of the earth — who is employed on a 
paper which does not belong to a newsgathering 
organization, has, of course, a difficult place to fill, but 
if time enough is given him and he is experienced, he 
usually succeeds in building up a satisfactory news- 
gathering system of his own. With his machine in 
fine working order the foreign news reaches him auto- 
matically; the news of the leading home cities is ac- 
quired most of the time without trouble; and that of 
the small towns calls only for a fair amount of atten- 
tion. The foreign correspondents always give good 
service. Stationed in the leading cities, by keeping 
their eyes and ears open and buying plenty of late 
editions, they come into possession of all the note- 
worthy news, and thoroughly competent, they know 
how to write readable stories and how to get them 
across the ocean quickly. Rarely does the telegraph 
editor find it necessary to give orders to these repre- 
sentatives. The correspondents in the important home 
cities work much as do the foreign correspondents. 
They forward the news they think worth forwarding 
without waiting to ask questions, and most of the 



News from Outside the City 225 

stories they write can be turned over to the printers 
just as they are received. These correspondents are 
held responsible for the news not only of their own 
cities but for that of all the nearby towns, and a few 
of them forward their contributions over private tele- 
graph wires. 

It may here be pointed out that owing to the differ- 
ence in time between the two cities the New York 
morning papers, at a cost confined only to telegraph 
tolls, are enabled to present to their readers on the 
same day that it first appears all the news that is col- 
lected by their London contemporaries. When the 
London papers are issued the New York papers are still 
four hours away from the presses, and in the interval 
the American correspondents seize upon and transmit 
anything and everything that catches their fancy. The 
New York evening papers, too, take advantage of the 
difference in time, so that none is ever beaten on news 
published in London. 

Every first-class large city daily, whatever its 
method of getting the news of distant places, endeavors 
to have a correspondent in every city and village 
within a radius of 150 miles of the place where it is 
published. These correspondents are always paid at 
space rates, and anxious to make their bills as large as 
possible a good many of them insist on supplementing 
their worth while stories with a lot of trash. Some of 
the mediocre stories do get into print, but this is be- 
cause there is a dearth of real news in the office at the 
time they are received, or because the telegraph editor 
does not wish the would-be money-makers to become 
disgruntled and give up their places, thus putting him 
to the trouble of getting men to succeed them. Upon 
the man whose cupidity runs away with his common 



226 Making a Newspaper 

sense so far that he cannot be repressed by gentle means, 
the telegraph editor exercises a sure restraint by noti- 
fying the telegraph companies not to forward stories 
which he attempts to send offhand. A correspondent 
against whom an order of this kind is filed is thereafter 
compelled to "query," that is, to send an outline of the 
news he has and allow the telegraph editor to decide 
whether it is desired. Some papers require all their 
space correspondents to query, but the saving that re- 
sults is often dearly acquired. A saving of $500 looks 
pretty small, for example, when at 12 o'clock some 
night a telegram is received which reads : "Catastrophe, 
fifty persons killed, seventy-five injured; how much." 
And this message is no more blind than many that 
reach the telegraph editor. Queries, like news articles, 
are always sent "collect" by the correspondents, and 
anyone who comes into possession of a piece of news 
which he thinks is not likely to be widely known is 
at liberty to send queries to as many papers as he 
desires, without fear that he will be required to pay for 
them. Not replying to a query, an editor means that 
he does not care for the story offered. 

In the leading cities most of the telegraph news — 
the press associations in some places receive the news 
at their own offices and distribute it written out, either 
by messenger or through pneumatic tubes — is delivered 
to the newspaper offices over direct wires, and it is re- 
ceived by particularly competent operators who, inter- 
preting the dots and dashes on typewriters, or "mills," 
as they call them, turn out good, clean copy that it is a 
pleasure to edit; almost invariably it is correctly capi- 
talized and punctuated, and it is unusual for a sheet to 
be marred by a "bull," the operators' word for a 
blunder, or even by an erasure. The performances 



News from Outside the City 227 

of the press operators who receive legislative news and 
court decisions from Washington are especially won- 
derful in view of the fact that this news is not only- 
sent by "fast" men, but is "coded," or abbreviated; an 
ordinary telegraph operator could make nothing of it. 
"Scotus," for example, the press receiver expands into 
Supreme Court of the United States, and "HR," into 
House of Representatives. There are hundreds of 
these code devices; so many that they make a good- 
sized volume. 

Lest there be some misunderstanding, it must be 
explained that while a few papers maintain private 
wires of great length — one New York publisher has 
leased wires connecting his papers, which are located 
in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, 
and Boston — most papers, to adhere closely to facts, 
have uninterrupted connections only with the nearest 
headquarters of the telegraph companies. When a 
story is filed by a correspondent anywhere, the operator 
to whom the manuscript is delivered calls the nearest 
wire chief, who is perhaps in another town, and tells 
how much of a story he has. The wire chief there- 
upon gets into communication with the city in which 
the paper is located, and as soon as the newspaper has 
a free wire a connection is established with the opera- 
tor who has the story to deliver. The moment the 
story is concluded the "made" wire is "broken," and 
another correspondent's story gets a chance at the 
newspaper "loop." In the largest newspaper offices 
there are frequently as many as a dozen telegraph 
operators employed. 

Orders sent by telegraph editors are always to the 
point, usually reading something like: "Rush 500 
words railroad accident." The papers get special 



228 Making a Newspaper 

rates from the telegraph companies — where the charge 
for ordinary messages is twenty-five cents for ten 
words the press rate is a third of a cent a word — but 
the editors save a word whenever they can, and they 
try to make their correspondents do the same by warn- 
ing them frequently of the necessity of adhering 
closely to facts and avoiding "fine writing." The cor- 
respondents are not, however, expected to abbreviate 
or skeletonize. Even the cable telegrams of the 
foreign correspondents are commonly sent complete 
except for the omission of words like "and," "the," 
"that," "on," and "in," and these are left out only 
where there is no possibility of the editor filling in the 
wrong word. During a war, code or cipher is forbid- 
den, the censors refusing to pass it; and a message of 
which they are the least suspicious they always reject. 
If a correspondent does deceive the censors and is found 
out, his usefulness is at an end, and he can count him- 
self lucky if he is allowed to start for home without 
undergoing a term of imprisonment. Incidentally, the 
stories about war correspondents filing sections of the 
Bible to keep rivals from getting a chance at the wires 
are out of date. While the rule of the cable and tele- 
graph companies is to send messages in the order they 
are received, they also have another rule which says 
that legitimate business is not to be delayed. A war 
correspondent could, of course, insist that a chapter 
of the Bible be forwarded to his paper, but the censor 
would have to give his assent before the cable office 
would accept it, and it would not be sent until all real 
news was out of the way. 

The hours of the telegraph editor of an evening 
paper are the same as those of the city editor; but in 
a morning paper office the telegraph editor does not 



News from Outside the City 229 

begin work until late in the afternoon or early in 
the evening, the managing editor looking after the 
queries and sending out orders previous to his arrival. 
Always the day is started by an inspection of the 
schedule prepared by the man who reads the papers, 
and whenever opportunity offers, the telegraph editor 
goes over the rival papers that are brought into the 
office to see whether he is missing anything. Whether 
he has to work hard for his news or whether it comes 

him easy, the telegraph editor must be a quick and 
accurate copy reader, for many of the stories that reach 
him, particularly from small towns, are written by un- 
trained merran4 nee d thorough revision. Usually there 
are only two or three men detailed to assist in read- 
ing telegraph copy, but in a few offices in the leading 
cities a larger force is employed, and almost all the 
stories, including those received from the newsgather- 
ing organizations, are rewritten. 

The telegraph editor, too, must possess an exceed- 
ingly good stock of general information, and be well 
acquainted with his geography, for the worth of a 
telegram, particularly of those which come from dis- 
tant places, is not always to be judged by its length. 
If he gets word that the Duke of Perth is dead, he 
ought to know just how much of an obituary should 
be prepared in the office and tacked to the message, and 
when he hears that Ping Pang Fort has fallen, he must 
see that the news gets into the paper equipped with 
an elucidation and a heading befitting its worth. In 
a few of the largest offices all the cable news is edited 
by one man, and each of the other copy readers handles 
the news of a certain section or certain states. Not 
often does a telegraph editor or any of his assistants 
manufacture news, or, in the vernacular, employ the 



230 Making a Newspaper 

"grapevine wire." In almost all offices this practice 
is strictly forbidden. 

Digressing for the moment from big-city journalism, 
mention may be made of the manner in which small- 
town dailies, papers which, although not rich enough 
to use the telegraph lines, are still ambitious to keep 
their readers informed and up to date, get the news 
of the outside world. It is forwarded to them, strange 
to say, by express, and not infrequently makes that 
stage of the journey between the railroad stations and 
the editorial rooms in wheelbarrows. And more odd 
still, it has to be edited with saws. Under the cir- 
cumstances it is hardly necessary to add that the news 
reaches the country towns not in manuscript form, 
but turned into type, or to be concise, stereotype plates 
that are ready to be placed on the press. Plate matter 
is a boon to the country editor, in that it enables him to 
present the whole world's news while it is, if not quite 
fresh, yet far from stale ; and because it permits him to 
get along with an exceedingly small force of printers. 
A column of cable news that only a few hours before 
cost some city paper thousands of dollars the country 
editor can, using plate matter, print in his paper almost 
as cheaply as he can a three "stick" local article that 
calls for the services of a compositor. 

Establishments where plate matter is prepared are 
found in almost every part of the country; there is 
scarce a city of over 100,000 population not close to a 
still larger city which does not boast of one or more. 
The head man in each establishment is the editor. 
Having evening publications for his clients he starts 
to work early in the morning, probably before daylight, 
and going over the freshly issued local papers, gleans 
from them all the important news. Having occasion 



News from Outside the City 231 

to appropriate political articles he edits them until 
they are unbiased, for his patrons are of all beliefs; 
long articles he condenses, and stories of local hap- 
penings he changes so that they can bear date lines. 
Sufficient material having been prepared he sends it to 
the printers and has it turned into type, and after this 
arranges the articles in column lengths. From the 
type matrices are now made, and from each matrice 
as many plates, each a column long and a column wide, 
as there are papers to be supplied, are cast. After this 
the plates are arranged in sets, one of each kind to a 
set, inclosed in strong iron-bound boxes and hurried 
to the express offices or railroad stations. All this 
work takes only a few hours and the plates reach their 
destinations in time to be used in the evening papers. 
Where the customers are morning papers the same 
procedure is followed, only here the news is gathered 
from the early edition evening papers. 

Of course, forwarding duplicate plates to perhaps 
twenty editors and operating at small expense, — the 
news itself costs him only the few cents required to 
procure copies of the city papers, — the plate-matter 
manufacturer is able to make his charges to each cus- 
tomer exceedingly low. And even the express charges 
are kept down. The plates, instead of being shipped 
"type high," and in consequence, heavy, are before 
packing planed until they are each hardly an eighth of 
an inch thick, after which grooves are cut on their 
under sides so that they will fit forms that are kept, in 
all lengths, in the country offices. So long as he has 
only entire columns to fill, the country editor can make 
rapid progress in preparing plate matter for publica- 
tion, for he has to do nothing more than slip the plates 
on the forms; but having to fill parts of columns (pieces 



232 Making a Newspaper 

of plate matter can be distributed in a page partly 
filled with ordinary type) or wishing to cut out some 
article he must take off his coat and go to work with 
a saw. There are a great many country weeklies 
which use whole pages of plate matter, which is 
now procurable bearing farm notes, short stories, 
fashions, continued stories, sermons, editorials, and 
almost anything else, and where this is the case the edi- 
tor's work is frequently still further reduced. He is 
supplied not with plates but with bundles of papers 
printed on one side, and to issue his paper he need only 
print his local news on the blank side. In offices where 
this practice is followed "our patent inside" is a stand- 
ing joke among the printers. 

Space-paid correspondents who come to understand 
as well as do the staff reporters and the salaried cor- 
respondents the importance of getting their news into 
the office early, are the ones who make the most money 
and stand highest in the telegraph editor's estimation. 
Starting his day, the telegraph editor wishes for mo- 
mentous news, but news of some kind or what ap- 
proaches news he must have, and for the men who 
come to his assistance there are rewards. A story 
which reaches an evening paper office at 8 o'clock 
in the morning is almost sure to get into print, and 
many which would of a certainty go into the waste- 
basket at noon are deemed worthy at 10 o'clock. Late 
in the day only exceptional stories pass inspection, and 
even these are pruned. It is not so easy to force con- 
tributions on a morning paper, since the telegraph 
editor has a good many hours in which to supply his 
share of material, but here, too, the early stories are 
most lightly judged. To the prompt correspondents 
also, there are often sent orders for details which mean 



News from Outside the City 233 

to them more space and more money. In passing, 
when a telegraph editor transmits to a correspondent 
who has been supplying a running story, such as a 
report of a court trial, a message reading "Good- 
night," he wishes to inform him that the last edition 
for the day has been placed on the press, and that he 
is relieved from duty; and receiving a message which 
reads : "30," the correspondent can interpret it into the 
same thing. 

By taking the trouble to learn something about the 
style of the paper for which he writes, and informing 
himself concerning the kind of news it wants and the 
kind it does not want, the average correspondent could 
not only make his work bring him a much greater 
return than it does, but also save himself a great deal 
of needless labor. A few papers supply to their repre- 
sentatives small books of instructions, but even having 
studied one of these a newsgatherer must use his judg- 
ment continually, for in the newspaper business as in 
others, there are few rules which do not have excep- 
tions. Almost all of the books issued, for example, 
say: "Do not send trivial accidents." Yet it is pos- 
sible for an accident, small in itself, to be worth the 
attention of every paper in the country because of its 
peculiarity, or because of the prominence of persons 
concerned. 

To make sure that his stories will not be delayed in 
transit a correspondent should always, at the end of 
each one, write the time of filing in the telegraph 
office. Knowing that he will have to send this filing- 
time paragraph, no operator is going to allow a story 
to remain in his hands a moment longer than is neces- 
sary. For the occasional country operator who will 
not start a story because it is time for him to go to 



234 Making a Newspaper 

dinner or because it is time to close the office, there is 
a sure treatment. The correspondent need only write 
a message to the nearest superintendent of the tele- 
graph company, reading like this: "Have thousand 
words ordered New York Star, operator refuses to 
send," and pass it over the counter accompanied by 
the money to pay for it. Invariably the operator will 
undergo a change of heart. A correspondent should 
keep account of the stories he sends, and where pos- 
sible, should forward his bill in the form of a string 
of clippings. Always the bill should be accompanied 
by the orders for stories received from the paper. 

Although as has been pointed out every paper has 
ideas of its own as to what constitutes news, there is 
no correspondent who will not be benefited by a careful 
study of the following instructions issued to its out-of- 
town representatives by the New York World: 

Send facts — and nothing else. Both sides of every 
story. Whatever facts are calculated to interest, in- 
form or please everybody, everywhere, are good news. 

A fact which may be of vital importance in any par- 
ticular locality may be insignificant for the average 
reader. Imagine yourself a stranger set down in the 
locality which you represent, and judge from that 
what occurrences are of interest to other strangers all 
over the country. 

Put into your story only those facts which are of 
interest to everyone. Don't waste paper writing in 
the story matter to suit or please the person who gives 
you the information or others having a direct personal 
interest in the matter. 

Events involving New York people or interests have 
a value in addition to their ordinary news interest 



News from Outside the City 235 

which justifies more of a story than would otherwise 
be sent. 

Accidents, fires, floods, failures, and such ordinary 
happenings are usually covered by the Associated 
Press, and specials are needed only when the event 
is serious enough to be called a disaster. An early 
bulletin of them is appreciated, however, and may lead 
to an order for a special. 

Casualties of every sort involving no loss of life and 
property damage of less than $100,000 are not worth 
sending even in bulletins, unless peculiar in occasion, 
manner, or results, and of interest from more than 
their importance. 

Indecent assaults, unmentionable offenses, breach of 
promise, abandonment, and similar cases are seldom 
good news. Never send them unless the circumstances 
are very unusual or the persons involved very con- 
spicuous. Send them briefly and guardedly. 

Divorce cases, when actually on trial, are good news 
if the testimony is of an unusual nature, or the parties 
to the suit are well known. The "cleaner" they are 
the more they are worth, and this applies to all scandal 
news. 

Never send positive assertions unless you have the 
absolute .proof of their correctness ready for produc- 
tion at a moment's notice. The English language is 
rich in words of qualification. 

Never send interviews with a "well-known citi- 
zen," "one in a position to know," "a prominent 
official," or any other of the array of voluble but 
anonymous individuals. 

Do not, to enhance the supposed value of a story, 
speak of people as "prominent," "well known," 
"wealthy," or "beautiful" unless they really are so. 



236 Making a Newspaper 

Don't send speeches, political interviews, reports of 
committees or boards, or similar things, except when 
specially ordered. 

News received after midnight stands little chance 
of being printed, but brief dispatches, if important 
enough, are available as late as 1 a. m., and bulletins 
of very important news up to 2 a. m. After that noth- 
ing goes unless it is of the utmost importance. This 
means New York time, and the hour of receipt not the 
sending hour. 

Send queries at any hour day or night. File news 
dispatches at the earliest possible moment, morning, 
afternoon, or evening. When filing before 6 p. m. 
mark across the top of the first page, "Send after 6 
p. m." This because dispatches may be filed at any 
time during the day and are sent in the order received, 
but if sent before 6 p.m. may be charged double rates 
by the telegraph company. 

Send by telegraph, except matter the interest of 
which is as great at one time as another, and which no 
other newspaper is likely to get. The mails will do for 
that and for special stories for Sunday or other than 
regular news editions. 

On small matters and any time after 9 p. m., New 
York time, make your query a brief summary of the 
news, sending names and essential facts, clearly and 
concisely, thus: 

"North-bound passenger No. 4 Pennsylvania col- 
lided with freight, Jamestown Station, to-night. 
James Smith, engineer, killed; passenger fireman and 
three of freight crew injured, fireman fatally. Pas- 
sengers all right. Wrong signal. 200?" 



News from Outside the City 237 

This can be rewritten in the office into a special 
covering the news if more is not wanted or it is too late 
to order, and if so you will be paid for it as for a 
special. 

Do not exaggerate your news in queries. It will 
be detected at once and all your queries thereafter will 
be subjected to a discount that will work to your dis- 
advantage. State clearly and simply the exact facts 
as to the news you offer. 

Do not be secretive about your queries. State 
plainly what your news is. A blind query will almost 
invariably lead to a small order, when the story may be 
worth much more. 

Be careful to write plainly. Telegraph operators 
can read hen tracks, but not always correctly. 

Keep friendly with the telegraph operators if pos- 
sible. They can do you a great many favors if they 
wish to. Treat them fairly and don't expect im- 
possibilities. 

Remember that the long distance telephone is always 
available. Use it when the telegraph wires fail or 
are overcrowded. 

Your appointment as representative does not mean 
that news will be received from no one else in your 
locality. News will be taken from any reliable source, 
and if you neglect to query us on any news in your 
vicinity, or if your query is very much later than one 
sent in from some independent source, the news will be 
ordered from someone else. The only way in which 
you can insure exclusive possession of your field is 
by showing us by your work that we may rely upon 
you absolutely for early and good stories of events in 
your vicinity. 



238 Making a Newspaper 

The co-operative newsgathering association, to 
which reference has been made, occupies such a promi- 
nent place in newspaper affairs that a few words more 
about its organization and operation will not be amiss. 
It is organized more like a club than an every-day 
business venture, and admission to membership is de- 
cided in any city by the members there existing. The 
result of this is that in most places papers outside the 
fold stay there unless they buy out existing member- 
ships or "franchises." The last membership that 
changed hands in New York cost the purchaser about 
$100,000 — more rather than less — and along with it 
went only some worn-out, antiquated presses, a few 
hundred dollars' worth of printing machinery and 
office furniture, and the good will of a paper whose 
readers were so few that they did not count. On 
the surface the purchase money was paid for a news- 
paper; in reality it was paid for the paper's member- 
ship in the newsgathering association. As soon as the 
money was paid in this instance the purchased publica- 
tion was absorbed by the paper which desired its mem- 
bership, and the transaction was completed as in- 
tended. In New York at the present time a new mem- 
bership in the association is not procurable at any 
price, and there is no existing membership for sale at 
bargain rates. A membership confers privileges on 
one paper only, so where a morning and an evening 
edition are issued from one establishment two "fran- 
chises" are necessary to get the association's complete 
service. Morning and evening memberships, moreover, 
are distinct, which precludes a morning member chang- 
ing to an evening member, and vice versa. The associa- 
tion's co-operative plan of operation, of course, elimi- 
nates the possibility of profits or dividends. The ex- 



News from Outside the City 239 

penses, amounting to about $2,000,000 a year, are 
divided equitably, the amount any member pays being 
based on the population within a given radius of the 
place of publication and the cost of maintaining the 
special wires the service requires. 



CHAPTER XIV 

PREPARING FOR JOURNALISM 

Of education a newspaper worker, either editor or 
reporter, cannot have too much as long as he is not 
through it made pedantic and intolerant. A fair edu- 
cation, whether it has been acquired in the classroom 
or through the hardest kind of work with none other 
than himself as a teacher, he must have. All the sub- 
jects taught in the elementary schools prove useful, 
and for any position a pretty thorough knowledge of 
English grammar, American history, the elements of 
civil government, geography, and elementary arith- 
metic are next to necessary. An occasional reporter 
can manage to get along without knowing much about 
some of these things, but this is only because he is 
associated in his office with men who can tide him over 
when he gets stuck. Not often are the higher mathe- 
matics employed in newspaper work. But the train- 
ing their study gives is far-reaching ; when it is known 
that a man excels in mathematics the chances always 
are that he is above the ordinary in other branches of 
learning. Some of the editors and reporters who 
understand Latin and Greek say that the knowl- 
edge helps them frequently. The ones who know 
nothing about either say that if their ignorance handi- 
caps them the handicap is so light that they never feel 
it. Both sides, though, unite in declaring that an ac- 
quaintance with Latin and Greek certainly does not 

240 



Preparing for Journalism 241 

impede anyone's progress. Every accomplishment 
helps in a newspaper office. 

There was a time when newspaper editors looked 
askance at college graduates, but conditions have 
changed. In large cities college men now get the 
preference, and in the length of Park Row, in New 
York, can be found scattering representatives of almost 
every university in the world, and small college gradu- 
ates by the score. A college education will not give a 
man more brains than nature set aside for him, but it 
will add something to the value of the existing supply, 
for no man, however dense he is, can have things ex- 
plained to him every day for three or four years by 
professors qualified to explain without benefiting. 
Denying this, one would also have to deny that a young 
man, whom a successful merchant took the trouble 
to instruct, counsel, and advise daily for a like period, 
would come to know some valuable truths about busi- 
ness. Going to college, moreover, a man is compelled 
to study, and must perform set tasks daily. The man 
who does not go may study and may work regularly; 
but again he may not. For the most part, the persons 
who talk the loudest about the harm colleges do make 
no distinction between college graduates and men who 
have gone to college, and giving illustrations of their 
contentions, point out individuals who were dismissed 
from college for the very reasons that continue to 
render them objectionable. The colleges, particularly 
the larger ones, conduct a thorough weeding out 
process, and by no means every starter finishes. 

While a college education is desirable, it is for news- 
paper work far from essential. Every large paper has 
on its staff excellent reporters and copy readers who 
never saw the inside of a college building, and in the 



242 Making a Newspaper 

same class are a few of the highest paid editors. Some 
of these men began as office boys, others became re- 
porters after having served apprenticeships at the 
printer's case. But the men who rise in daily jour- 
nalism, after starting handicapped by the lack of an 
education, are in every instance found to possess in a 
high degree that important qualification for success — 
mental alertness. And those who reach the big prizes 
possess, also, a rare quality, commonly known as 
executive ability, which far overshadows education 
and mere brains in the opinion of most men who have 
won success. 

For the young man who is entering college with the 
intention of fitting himself for journalism there is a 
great wealth of subjects from which to choose; but 
the task of making a selection which will bring the 
greatest return is a hard one. In some of the largest 
institutions about seventy years would be required to 
complete all the courses offered. Editors agree that a 
broad, liberal education is best for the would-be news- 
paper man. But there are not many of them who do 
more than generalize when they are asked to tell just 
what a broad, liberal education is. Nor are college 
professors as clear as they might be. The person 
would be presumptuous indeed, under these circum- 
stances, who would dare say: "These are the subjects 
which should be studied by the young man who intends 
to engage in journalism." But it cannot be taken 
amiss if a few are named which return good value for 
the time given them. 

English comes first. No matter how much else a 
man knows he is debarred from any except the lowest 
places if he cannot write good English. There are 
some men occupying high positions who learned how 



Preparing for Journalism 243 

to write in newspaper offices, but they got the chance 
to learn only because they early proved themselves keen 
observers and excellent newsgatherers. It is not safe 
for an average man to count on learning after start- 
ing to work. Editors and copy readers are willing 
to give a beginner points on newspaper style, but they 
object to teaching grammar, and they will do it only 
when wonderful results are promised. 

United States history, taught by a man who knows 
the subject, is also worth a good lot of the student's 
time. For one thing, it will save him from becoming 
a calamity howler and a forecaster of national ruin. 
The newspaper writers who are continually talking 
about the good old times and declaring that the coun- 
try is going to destruction would be more cheerful if 
they knew as much about their country's history as 
they should. 

Logic is another subject that can be taken up profit- 
ably by the prospective newspaper worker. Leaving 
names aside, the man who studies elementary logic gets 
little that he might not get bit by bit through experi- 
ence, but this does not weigh against logic as a 
definite study. If a man can have a thing explained 
to him in detail in lessons extending over a few months, 
he is certainly foolish to allow the opportunity to go 
by because he thinks he will be able to accumulate the 
same information by simply living. He may not, in 
the first place, live long enough to accumulate it all, 
and secondly there is only the probability that he will 
get it, not the certainty. Elementary logic is worth 
while to the student if it makes plain to him nothing 
more than the fact that a thing either is or is not. 
Grasping this truth he will save himself a lot of trouble 
and incidentally be able to see through a lot of shams 



244 Making a Newspaper 

which he is sure to encounter. Realizing, too, that a 
thing is either true or is not true, he will not distort, 
exaggerate, or misrepresent with the mistaken idea that 
he is really not lying but only presenting the case as 
viewed from one side. 

Another subject that can be pursued to ad- 
vantage is political economy, which helps a man 
to come to a decision when a thousand questions 
arise. It does not make him infallible, but it does mili- 
tate against mere passiveness. Having studied politi- 
cal economy intelligently a man is led to think even 
if he does draw wrong conclusions, and the probabili- 
ties are that he will be right much oftener than he will 
be wrong. 

A knowledge of finance, which is now taught in all 
the large universities, may prove extremely valuable 
to a newspaper worker. Not many young men enter 
a newspaper office qualified to handle news of the stock 
markets, banks, crop reports, loans and discounts, rail- 
road earnings, bond issues, "corners," panics, and fail- 
ures, and a city editor always congratulates himself 
when he finds that he has one on his staff. He is 
pleased, too, to learn that one of his young men knows 
what a bank statement is, and can explain it and the 
message it contains in words that the average news- 
paper reader can understand. 

Most old-time newspaper editors shy at the word 
psychology, but the one who has studied psychology 
will probably acknowledge that it has benefited him. 
With sociology it is the same. A lot of fun is poked 
at this study, but it is healthy enough to stand it. It 
presents a set of statistics that widens anyone's horizon, 
and it sheds light on a lot of topics that are often dis- 
cussed without much understanding. 



Preparing for Journalism 245 

For a newspaper artist an education along general 
lines can be either a possession or a want, without any- 
one being much the wiser except those who come into 
close contact with him, but if he is to be other than a 
plodder he must have in him the qualities so necessary 
for the other workers, those which enable a man to 
see news when it exists and to pick out its most 
dramatic points. 

Ambitious to become a newspaper artist and think- 
ing that he has in him the essentials, a young man 
should, if possible, place himself under a competent 
instructor, which may save him from acquiring faults 
of which he cannot later rid himself, and he should 
practice continually. Having acquired enough skill 
to make pictures of his friends and his every-day sur- 
roundings, the student should try his hand at street 
scenes, the groups gathered in front of bulletin boards 
and around the push-cart merchants, and from this he 
can move on to the scenes of fires and accidents. 
Reaching the point where he is pretty sure that he is 
qualified to go to work for a salary, he should visit 
courtrooms where trials that are attracting wide atten- 
tion are in progress. Here, while making pictures of 
his own, he will get a chance to see journeymen 
newspaper artists at work, and, proceeding circum- 
spectly, will be able during recesses to make their ac- 
quaintance, or at least to have them look at his draw- 
ings. If they think his work is up to the mark they will 
probably, their opinions having been solicited, say so 
and perhaps point out where improvement may be 
made. If they are reluctant to make comments the 
novice should not press them, for they are not un- 
likely keeping quiet through kindness. Having praised 
a beginner's work, the newspaper artists will, if there 



246 Making a Newspaper 

is time to spare and the man strikes their fancy, tell 
him how to go about learning how pictures are made 
ready for printing, tell him where he might find em- 
ployment, and perhaps promise to speak a word for 
him where it will count. In New York the artists, like 
the reporters, are kindness itself to beginners ; in view 
of the vicissitudes of the newspaper business their con- 
duct in this line is remarkable. 

Able to make pictures worth printing, but not find- 
ing a situation, the novice may turn his talent to ac- 
count, and perhaps place himself in the way of steady 
employment by contributing to the Sunday papers, 
and if he is not much of a writer himself he need only 
visit the places where reporters are stationed to watch 
for news, to find plenty of men who will be willing to 
collaborate with him, furnish the writing while he 
furnishes the illustrations. Another market for his 
pictures may be found among the syndicates, con- 
cerns which, purchasing special material of every kind, 
sell it to papers all over the country. The same story 
is sold to perhaps twenty papers, but it is arranged 
that all shall publish it on the same day. The syndi- 
cates buy short stories, jokes, continued stories, a little 
poetry, in brief, anything that is worth printing, and 
generally they pay good prices. They are not, how- 
ever, in very high favor with special article writers, for 
by supplying Sunday papers with material they reduce 
the authors' market. In medium-sized cities many 
Sunday papers now purchase almost everything they 
use from the syndicates. 

Best paid of all the artists are the cartoonists. 
Which is equivalent to saying that not many artists 
can make cartoons. If it is harder to make a sketch of 
a crowded courtroom than it is to make a copy of such 



Preparing for Journalism 247 

a sketch, so it is many times more difficult to make a 
drawing where, after evolving the idea itself, the artist 
must proceed without any other guide than his own 
brain creations. For a beginner to become a cartoon- 
ist at a jump is next to impossible. But it is not an 
unheard-of performance for a man to become one, at 
least to the extent that he is employed to make 
' 'comics," after only a few months' service. Every 
now and then, in the largest cities, some young man 
who, combining a nimble pencil with a keen wit, can 
make pictures dealing with current topics which will 
produce laughs, is taken out of the ranks of the news 
artists almost before he has become accustomed to his 
surroundings and launched as a "feature" on his 
paper's bill board advertisements. Real high-class 
cartoonists, however, are rarely found to be youthful 
prodigies. Almost invariably they are trained artists 
whose keenness of perception and acquaintance with 
the world put them in the class occupied by the highest 
editors. The ability to draw is only one of the skilled 
cartoonist's qualifications, and it may easily be a second 
to that one upon which his reputation actually rests. 

Starting a picture the newspaper artist first uses a 
pencil, and the sketch is made about twice the size it 
is intended it shall be when it appears in the paper. 
The picture complete in pencil, the artist, to make it 
ready for the plate-makers — mechanical workers 
whose processes do not concern him — need only go 
over it in ink or wash, a color which is laid on with 
a small brush. In these days there is no call in news- 
paper offices for engravers. All plates are made by 
photographic processes; even the chalk plate, deemed 
a wonderful time and money saver ten years ago, is 
now out of date. 



248 Making a Newspaper 

Many of the news pictures now printed are made 
from photographs instead of drawings, and as a result 
the photographer has become as much a fixture in 
journalism as the reporter and the artist. And the 
newspaper photographers are experts ; men who know 
a great deal more than how to point a camera and 
press a button. This leads to the explanation that the 
camera, despite the changes it has brought about in 
newspaper illustrating, has not accomplished all that 
was promised for it a few years ago when the artists 
were beginning to fear that there would soon be no 
demand for their services. Cuts can be made from 
good photographic prints just as they leave the photog- 
rapher's hands, but if best results are to be obtained, 
the pictures must be gone over by artists. Outlines 
have to be strengthened by ink lines skillfully placed, 
shadows have to be taken out, and, frequently, back- 
grounds must be strengthened or obliterated. Fancy 
borders, too, are often added. For a poor photograph 
the services of an artist are not only desirable but 
requisite. 

The rapidity with which pictures are prepared for 
publication in well-equipped newspaper offices is 
almost past belief. Cuts are every day made from line 
drawings and finished photographs in thirty minutes, 
and in an establishment where every facility for rapid 
work is afforded, "rush" news pictures are sometimes 
printed in the paper only an hour after the moment 
when the exposed photographic plate, still in the 
camera, was by the out-of-breath photographer de- 
livered at the door of the art department. 

To the reporter who is paid according to his output, 
knowledge is not only power — it is equivalent to ready 
money. Every scrap of information that comes his 



Preparing for Journalism 249 

way he turns to account. If he finds a crowd of chil- 
dren playing a new game in the street he gets one of 
them to explain it to him, and the next time he has to 
wait in the office for an assignment, puts the explana- 
tion on paper, dressing it up so that it will make in- 
teresting reading; and he makes use of all the fresh 
anecdotes he hears in the same way. The progressive 
space man is rarely idle, even on his day of rest. It 
becomes second nature for him to pick up odds and 
ends that may be turned into cash, and many times the 
readers of his Sunday paper learn what he has 
dreamed although not realizing that they are read- 
ing dreams. 

Surprisingly few newspaper workers are able to 
write shorthand, and a great many contend that they 
are glad the accomplishment is beyond them. Short- 
hand, they say, tends to make a man a mere machine 
which, intent on getting words, misses expression and 
meaning. There is some truth in this. Taking rapid 
dictation, a stenographer writes almost automatically, 
and gives no thought to anything else than his writing ; 
the more receptive he can make himself the better is 
he pleased. A newspaper reporter, on the other hand, 
must keep his wits about him and use his eyes as well 
as his ears, for he is always expected to get a complete 
picture rather than a detailed part of one. Most inter- 
views which appear in the papers would read far less 
smoothly were they accurate reports, for almost every 
person talking at length, without preparation, pro- 
ceeds in a roundabout way, repeats, goes back to 
qualify, returns to one subject after having left it to 
deal with another, and uses colloquialisms and inter- 
jections which he would not care to see in print. The 
skillful interviewer allows the repetitions to go in one 



250 Making a Newspaper 

ear and out the other, and forgets the unimportant 
words as fast as they are uttered. But he is quick to 
catch odd expressions, mannerisms, and gestures; and 
adroitly now and then he puts in a word or a question, 
and without making it apparent, leads the conversa- 
tion where he desires it to go. Later, when he is put- 
ting the interview on paper, he takes up the subjects 
touched on in the order of their news value, regardless 
of where they came in the talk. 

Should he be sent to report a public meeting, a re- 
porter does not tremble over his inability to write 
shorthand. On his arrival, he seeks out the man who 
is to deliver the principal speech, and getting him to 
one side, asks for a copy of it. Usually it is forth- 
coming, typewritten, in which case, while the audience 
is later being dazzled by the speaker's "impromptu" 
brilliancy, the reporter prunes the speech to fit his 
space apportionment. Having procured one or two 
good speeches, the reporter puts the other orators in 
the "also spoke" class, unless they say something that 
he dares not allow to pass unnoticed. If, however, the 
reporter fails to get copies of speeches in advance, he 
follows them when they are delivered, writing the gist 
of them as rapidly as he can in longhand. He does not 
take notes, but instead writes a running story that can 
be sent to his office in sections. 

Long speeches, such as those delivered at political 
conventions are, if copies are not to be procured in 
advance, taken by corps of skilled and experienced 
stenographers. Days before the time set for the meet- 
ing, several papers acting jointly make arrangements 
with the proprietor of some stenographic and type- 
writing office for the reporting of the speeches. The 
opening of the meeting finds this man on hand with 



Preparing for Journalism 251 

perhaps a half-dozen stenographers, and ten minutes 
after a speaker sits down the end of his address is on 
its way to the newspaper offices. While the stenog- 
raphers are looking after the talkers, the newspaper 
reporters, sitting near by, write stories telling of the 
crowd, the prominent persons present, the speakers' 
appearance and their gestures, the effect the addresses 
have on the audience, the decorations, the music, and 
whatever else strikes them as worth making known. 

Copies of messages of the President and the Gov- 
ernors are always given to the large newspapers printed 
and inclosed in sealed envelopes several days before 
the time set for their delivery. On the morning of the 
day on which a message is to be read, the editor-in- 
chief or the managing editor, to whom a paper's copy 
is intrusted, breaks the seal and has the document sent 
to the printers, over whom, for the time, strict watch 
is kept, and a paper containing the message is issued 
as soon as possible after word comes by telegraph 
that the reading of the message has begun. 

Reporters, it can be seen, are not necessarily short- 
hand writers. But it is going too far to say that short- 
hand is a detriment. The reporters who speak against 
it mean, rather than this, that the man who allows it 
to become a crutch instead of a tool is sure to suffer, 
and they might add that decrying shorthand, they are 
taking it for granted that all newsgatherers have 
excellent memories. The reporter who, while using 
shorthand, depends upon notes no more than do other 
reporters who write longhand only, saves himself 
much labor every day, and occasionally the ability to 
take dictation does him excellent service, as is the case 
when he encounters someone, who, while willing to 
talk for publication, hesitates because he fears he will 



252 Making a Newspaper 

not be correctly quoted. And it might here be men- 
tioned that partly because they do not think it neces- 
sary to advertise their calling wherever they go, and 
partly through custom, journeymen reporters in the 
largest cities do not carry notebooks. The brief mem- 
orandums they take are written on pads formed by 
folding several sheets of copy paper together, or on 
the margins of folded newspapers. Not wishing to 
bring smiles to the faces of the long-service men, 
beginners will conform to the custom. 

Editors once imagined that articles written on the 
typewriter were necessarily stilted and devoid of life, 
but most of them are now heartily in favor of the 
machines. In the offices of all evening papers which 
print numerous editions, the inside workers who do 
rewriting and write stories telephoned in, are required 
to use them, and the number of offices where all the 
reporters have to use them is constantly growing. In 
a few cities it is taken for granted, when a reporter 
says that he is qualified to do general work, that he is 
a typewriter operator. Newspaper workers, both re- 
writers and reporters, once they become accustomed 
to machines, feel it a hardship when they have to fall 
back on pencils or pens. They can more than double 
their speed with machines, and they contend that if 
there is any difference their typewritten stories are 
the better; as they are able, putting down the words 
more rapidly, to establish a closer relation between 
the brain and the hand. Copy readers are unani- 
mously in favor of typewritten stories, for handling 
them, they are not compelled to decipher words, while 
the wide spaces between the lines leave room for easy 
interlineation. In New York a great many morning 
paper reporters when they have a three or four 



Preparing for Journalism 253 

column story on hand, go to one of the type- 
writing bureaus, of which there are a number in the 
vicinity of Park Row, and dictate to an operator who 
writes direct on the typewriter. 

The place in which to learn the newspaper business 
is a newspaper office. But this does not mean that 
part of it could not be learned elsewhere. It means 
only that there is in existence no well-equipped school 
which teaches journalism. Undoubtedly, the elements 
of newspaper work might be taught as successfully as 
as are the elements of law, medicine, or anything else. 
A school could not turn out finished editors, editorial 
writers, or first-class reporters, but it could fit men 
to make a good start at the bottom, with better 
than the ordinary prospect of advancement. Nothing 
more should be expected of it. A law school is not 
condemned because it does not produce skilled lawyers 
and judges, and no one scoffs at a school of medicine 
because it does not turn out past-master specialists. 
But newspaper workers never tire of making fun of 
mythical schools of journalism. Journalism, they inti- 
mate, is the one thing that cannot be taught in school. 
Everything else may be. But journalism, never ! In 
much the same spirit the men engaged in the compos- 
ing rooms insisted until a few years ago that while 
machinery could supplant every other manual worker, 
it could never oust the type-setter. 

Entering a school where experienced editors and 
reporters would teach him how a newspaper office is 
organized, how news is collected and handled, give 
him assignments such as he would get in actual work; 
and point out his mistakes and show him how to 
get around them, a young man would certainly 
stand a better chance of learning the groundwork of 



254 Making a Newspaper 

the newspaper business than he would were he placed 
in a newspaper office and left to struggle alone. Of 
course, though, the successful school of journalism 
could not make a competent newspaper man out of 
everyone who came to hand. But sifting out half the 
beginners, it would still have the right to stand as a 
good teacher, for the newspapers get a very small per- 
centage of their beginners past the novice class. Where 
teaching is concerned, the newspapers are not wonder- 
ful successes. Their methods are those of the amateur 
swimming masters who throw their pupils into deep 
water at the first lesson, and discard those who can- 
not get ashore unaided. 



CHAPTER XV 
GETTING A SITUATION 

The best course for a man who wishes to get a 
place on the staff of a newspaper to pursue, is to go 
to a newspaper office and ask for employment. Some- 
times the managing editor or his assistant does the 
hiring, usually the city editor; the boy who is found 
guarding the entrance to the editorial rooms may be 
depended upon to give correct information on this 
score, for he is called on repeatedly every day to exer- 
cise his knowledge on the subject. 

For the inexperienced man there is only one place 
open. The stories told of young men who, fresh from 
college, are employed as book reviewers, or editors in 
this or that department, and those which represent 
them as getting places which permit them to do 
whatever work they please, when and where they 
please, are all nonsense. In the same category are 
the tales that picture beginners as starting to work at 
salaries which permit them to furnish apartments, eat 
in first-class restaurants, ride in cabs, and go to the 
theater whenever they feel like it. The beginner starts 
as a reporter ; his work, little more at first than errand 
running, is laid out for him; his hours are long, and 
he receives for his services only enough to live on, 
practicing strict economy. In New York (conditions 
are different in some other cities) there are no per- 
quisites which go with a situation on a newspaper. 

355 



256 Making a Newspaper 

Neither editors nor reporters are allowed to apply for 
street railway passes, and they get no free tickets to 
the theaters. Usually, when a reporter asks a theat- 
rical manager for passes, the manager writes a letter to 
the managing editor, and the reporter gets a warning, 
and offending a second time, is dismissed. The dra- 
matic critics all receive two tickets for each first night 
performance, but they regard tickets they cannot use 
as personal possessions and commonly bestow them 
upon friends outside of the office. In New York a news- 
paper man's labor brings him only what his salary will 
purchase. 

Few editors will refuse to see a man who desires 
employment if there are vacancies on their staffs, and 
many make it a rule to talk with every applicant, 
even if their forces are already larger than need be. 
Getting an audience, however, is not getting a situa- 
tion. The office of a daily newspaper in a large city 
is visited every day by three or four men — in New 
York the number sometimes goes as high as ten — who 
wish work, so of necessity a large majority of the visi- 
tors are told that there are no openings. So great is 
the likelihood that he will be turned away from the 
office which he first visits, that the man who is about 
to search for employment will, if he is wise, before 
starting his quest, make a list of the papers; placing 
them in the order in which they appeal to him. Fail- 
ing in one office, he can then go to the one that comes 
second on his schedule without wasting time wonder- 
ing what he shall do next. 

That an applicant for a place on the staff of a big 
newspaper has had no experience is not an unsur- 
mountable obstacle. Most editors prefer to engage 
trained workers who have demonstrated their worth, 



Getting a Situation 257 

but some of them choose to take men of no experience 
and train them as they think they should be trained. 
Certain it is that an editor would rather employ a man 
of no experience than one who, having spent some 
months or years in newspaper work, had only proved 
that little could be expected of him. In offices where 
beginners are not tolerated the ranks are kept filled by 
men who have served apprenticeships in small cities. 

While all the year around the newspaper offices are 
besieged by persons who are in search of employment, 
there are two seasons at which the number of appli- 
cants greatly increases. One of these is the early sum- 
mer, which marks the closing of colleges and high 
schools, and the majority of the applicants are, as 
might be expected, graduates of different institutions 
who have had no experience. Most of those just out 
of college, having in mind stories about the ridiculous 
self-importance of the newly-fledged graduates, are 
less assertive than men of their age whose schoolroom 
education has not been carried so far; but a few fur- 
nish material for editorial room laughter by making 
it plain that they feel themselves equal to any place 
that may be open. 

A man could not select a worse time than early sum- 
mer to apply for a situation in a newspaper office, for 
then the dullest season of the whole year, a period that 
is marked by a decrease in the amount of news, and 
fully as important, a decrease in the amount of adver- 
tising, is at hand. Lawmaking bodies and the higher 
courts do not hold sessions during the heated months, 
and because the courts and lawmaking bodies have 
adjourned, many lawyers and politicians, to whom the 
reporters ordinarily look for information of many 
kinds every day, betake themselves to places where 



258 Making a Newspaper 

they cannot be easily reached. Then, too, a great 
many other city residents spend the summer out . of 
town, and under normal conditions, the fewer people 
the less news, and the less the advertising. And, auto- 
matically, at this season, when there is less work for 
reporters, and when the receipts from advertising fall 
off, thus causing publishers to think of lowering ex- 
penses, the number of newsgatherers who report for 
service in the office increases, for after the adjourn- 
ment of the lawmaking bodies and courts, part of the 
men who report their proceedings are transferred into 
the ranks of the general workers and kept there until 
they are called back to their special fields. 

In spite of all this the men who apply for places in 
the summer need not be without hope. Every em- 
ployee on the big city dailies gets a two weeks' vacation 
during the hot months, and with a few workers away 
there is always a possibility that an increase in the 
day's news will induce an editor to employ a new man, 
if only to tide over an emergency. And seeing pos- 
sibilities in a man engaged temporarily, most editors 
will retain him even if his services will not be of much 
value immediately. 

In the fall there is another increase in the number 
of seekers after employment, because high school and 
college graduates, having enjoyed their last long vaca- 
tion, are ready to start to work. By this time part of 
the men engaged earlier in the year, and some of the 
more experienced workers, have dropped by the way- 
side, so with the busy season, the winter, close at hand, 
there is in many offices room for new material. 

One not acquainted with newspaper work might be 
inclined to think that the time would come when a 
paper's staff would be so arranged that there would be 



Getting a Situation 259 

no vacancies and no desire to make changes. This 
state of perfection, it might be said, is often reached 
in a bank or in a mercantile house. Where banks and 
mercantile houses are concerned this may be true, but 
different conditions obtain in newspaper offices. No 
large paper's staff is ever so organized that there is no 
desire for, or likelihood of change. There is a con- 
stant unrest, an unending moving about in the news- 
paper business, and there is no reason to believe that 
it will ever be any different. In New York during the 
past five years there has, so men of long experience 
say, been more changing than ever before. 

One reason why a paper's staff does not remain the 
same for long periods is that many men abandon jour- 
nalism after a few years' service, having taken it up 
merely with the idea of gaining experience through 
contact with persons in different walks of life, and 
with no intention of making it a life work. No editor 
will knowingly engage a man who contemplates doing 
this, and there are a few offices which have room for 
no one who will not sign a statement saying that he 
has nothing else than a newspaper career in mind. 
Other reporters and editors give up their work because, 
coming in contact with business men and politicians, 
they have offered to them places which promise greater 
pecuniary returns. Many others abandon journalism 
because, while having no particular employment in 
view, they realize that possessing only ordinary abil- 
ity they cannot hope to gain one of the great prizes. 
Still others, and in this class are included some of the 
best newspaper workers, meeting with success as 
writers of magazine articles, leave to devote them- 
selves exclusively to work of this nature. 

In the classes mentioned are included most of those 



260 Making a Newspaper ' 

who, of their own free will, leave the ranks of the 
newspaper workers. Together they form a mere frac- 
tion of the number who are forced to turn to some- 
thing else. Some of those who leave of necessity are 
obliged to do so on account of ill health. Always there 
are long hours for both morning and evening news- 
paper men, and those employed on morning papers 
have to do most of their work at night, which sooner 
or later has an ill effect; constant work by artificial 
light hurts the eyes, the night air is bad for even strong 
lungs, and in a city it is almost impossible to get undis- 
turbed sleep in the daytime. Then, reporters flocking 
to accidents and fires, are exposed to dangers not en- 
countered by everyone, and eating at irregular hours 
and in all sorts of restaurants is not conducive to good 
health. 

And long hours, lack of sleep, and poor food hastily 
eaten, have for strong allies worry and nervous strain. 
Remembering the number of persons applying for em- 
ployment at their offices every week, newspaper work- 
ers, if for no other reason, always bear in mind that 
their holds on their places are not very strong. Some 
reach the point where they do not knowingly allow 
this to bother them, but there is no reporter who is not 
aware that every time he goes out on an assignment, 
he runs a risk of putting himself in disfavor with the 
editor by whose grace he keeps his place, and no editor 
who does not realize that each article that passes 
through his hands may prove his undoing. 

Numbering more than those workers voluntarily 
making a change and those compelled to give up by 
ill health, are the ones who are dismissed for general 
inefficiency, poor work on a particular story, or 
because of bad habits. 



Getting a Situation 261 

Once a year, usually in the early summer, city news- 
papers have a house-cleaning, when all the reporters 
who have failed to prove their worth are dismissed; 
and a few papers at this time allow competent workers 
to go temporarily for the purpose of curtailing ex- 
penses. For the most part the workers who go on the 
occasion of a house-cleaning are men who were taken 
on after the preceding one. At least a third of those 
who enter the reporters' ranks drop out within a year, 
and of those who survive the first year a goodly pro- 
portion go before they have served two years. Having 
been in an office three years a man is pretty safe, as 
long as he keeps up his general standard and avoids 
a bad defeat. 

Not often does a letter written to an editor by an 
inexperienced man who is unknown to him, result in 
the writer getting a situation forthwith. Pleased with 
the letter, the editor may intimate that he would grant 
an interview, but he rarely commits himself. The re- 
porters represent the paper so far as the general public 
is concerned, and the editor does not like to run the 
risk of engaging a man who, for one reason or 
another, would not be looked upon with favor either 
in the office or out of it. Many editors will not make 
any other than a perfunctory reply to a written appli- 
cation for employment, for with so many men applying 
in person unsuccessfully, they do not feel justified in 
even hinting that a personal interview might result in 
the applicant getting a place. The would-be reporter 
who does write asking for a situation should by all 
means, if he intends to be fair to himself and to the 
person to whom he writes, give a description of him- 
self, and with it send his photograph. His letter 
should, of course, tell about his training and his edu- 



262 Making a Newspaper 

cation. Letters of recommendation written by college 
professors are read with care, for the editor knows that 
these men are unlike some others in that they are gen- 
erally adroit enough to evade writing recommenda- 
tions for persons they do not wish to recommend. 

If the editor is impressed by a caller, but not enough 
to lead him to engage him offhand, he may tell him 
to write something and submit it. No subject will be 
mentioned, because the editor desires to learn not 
alone how the would-be reporter can write, but also 
what ability he has to see things about which to write. 
The man who is requested to submit an article can 
leave the office in a pleasant frame of mind, for not 
many are thus honored. If the article that is forth- 
coming is bright and entertaining, and written in good 
English, the editor is glad of it, for it disappoints him 
to find that he was mistaken when he judged his visi- 
tor. The article need not be a masterpiece, and it need 
not be brilliant. If it is simply good and shows that 
the writer is observing and can express himself clearly, 
the probabilities are that there will be an addition 
made to the paper's staff. 

After a man who wishes to become a reporter has 
paid four or five visits to the different offices without 
receiving encouragement, it is time for him, if he is 
still sure that he can succeed in journalism and that all 
that he wants is a chance, to submit something without 
receiving an invitation. In fact, if he is absolutely sure 
that he is a good writer, and is willing to risk a decisive 
action, he might as well submit an article at the outset, 
and thus make the editor acquainted immediately with 
his ability. 

But originality, while it is desirable in a solicited 
contribution is a necessity in one not solicited. If pos- 



Getting a Situation 263 

sible, a subject should be selected concerning which 
nothing has been printed. If none of this description 
presents itself, an old one may be taken and treated in 
a manner not before attempted, at least so far as the 
writer knows. 

While he is casting about for a subject, and while 
he is preparing his article, the beginner must remember 
that his work is intended not for a magazine, but for 
a newspaper, and that a daily publication desires first 
news, and after that what closely approaches news. 
An article that demands space in a paper, such as a 
report of a fire or an accident, is real news, while 
another that is not news in itself, closely approaches 
news when it is timely. A story having to do with the 
manufacture and sale of fireworks would receive no 
consideration from a newspaper editor in the winter; 
but it might be accepted gratefully if offered to him a 
few weeks before the Fourth of July. 

A story may here be told of the experience of one 
young man who got a place in New York at a time 
when he had about given up hope. While walking 
along a downtown street he came across a crowd 
standing in front of a building in which there was a 
fire. Knowing that the regular reporters would soon 
appear, he had no thought of writing about the fire, 
and was looking on with the eyes of an ordinary spec- 
tator, when there was a small explosion in the interior 
of the building. The firemen came pouring out shout- 
ing for everyone to run, and the young man was turn- 
ing with others in the crowd when there came another 
explosion, that wrecked the building and showered 
debris in the streets around. Many of the sight-seers 
were knocked down — the young man was sent tum- 
bling — and a panic followed in which many already 



264 Making a Newspaper 

disabled were trampled upon. The young man fled 
with the others, but he took mental note of the injured 
persons he passed, and of the appearance of the streets 
and the terrorized crowd, and never stopped moving 
until he reached the office of the evening newspaper 
on which he was most desirous of getting work. When 
he told of his experience he was invited to write about 
it, and the column article that he wrote was worth 
reading. The main story of the fire and the explosion 
he did not attempt — that he left for the regular re- 
porters — but he told how he felt when he was running 
and how the injured, crying for help, were left to fare 
as best they could. He told, also, how men fought 
one another as they fled, and how here and there a 
falling brick sent one headlong. Before his story ap- 
peared in the paper the young man got the place he was 
after, the managing editor having passed on his work 
while reading the proofs. 

Sometimes an editor, not having a vacancy in his 
office, will allow a man who wants a situation to do 
space work for him. In this case the newcomer visits 
the office every day at the time the assignments are 
given out, and if there are more assignments than 
there are reporters, gets something to do. The regu- 
lar reporters get the important assignments, of course, 
and the extra space man gets at most something that 
has little promise. What he writes is paid for accord- 
ing to the space it covers. In New York, the extra 
space man who makes $10 a week can consider him- 
self lucky. An extra space man, however, is in line 
for regular employment, and his income is more sure 
than is that of a free-lance, as a reporter who is not 
regularly employed but sells his information wherever 
he can, is called. Because of this, a free-lance, finding 



Getting a Situation 265 

that a certain publication prints his articles pretty 
regularly, will do well to ask the editor to allow 
him to do extra space work, and if his request 
is granted he has reason to feel pleased. Thereafter 
he has a general over him, and can look forward 
to the next house-cleaning with more than ordinary 
interest. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE PRIZES IN JOURNALISM 

For any man who possesses a good supply of com- 
mon sense, a fair education, good health, and a liking 
and capacity for hard work, a newspaper office offers 
many advantages as a place in which to earn a living ; 
a self-supporting wage is offered even at the start, the 
work is pleasant, there is an absence of humdrum, and 
promotion is rapid for those who deserve it. In very 
few other places is it harder for a man, no matter how 
able, energetic, and well-qualified he is, to become 
wealthy. The small and medium-sized prizes in the 
newspaper business are multitudinous. The big prizes 
are few. But there is no limit to the rewards which 
are to be gained through journalism. It leads to any- 
thing and everything. As a means toward an end it 
cannot be surpassed. 

But journalism, like many other fields, is greenest 
when viewed from a distance. Newspaper workers 
are notorious croakers. Almost always, when a group 
of them get together and time hangs heavily on their 
hands, they begin to tell one another their troubles 
and wish they had gone in for something else, and 
generally the most insistent wishers are those who 
have seen the longest service. Even the men who have 
pushed to the front rank are frequently dissatisfied, 
for having made a way for themselves against one set 
of competitors, they feel that they could have outdis- 

266 



The Prizes in Journalism 267 

tanced those engaged in other pursuits just as well 
and have won greater rewards than are to be found in 
the newspaper offices. Few of the malcontents, how- 
ever, have anything in particular in mind to which they 
would like to transfer their activities, and commonly 
they supplement their hopes by doing nothing more 
than waiting for something to turn up. Losing his 
place, the most persistent grumbler usually forgets all 
about his desire to try something else and at once sets 
about trying to find new employment in another 
newspaper office ; and of the experienced men who do 
of their free will forsake newspaper work, a large pro- 
portion sooner or later drift back into it. The fascina- 
tion it exerts is hard to shake off. 

That newspaper workers are prone to grumble and 
decry their occupation is undoubtedly in part due to the 
fact that the pursuit of news bringing them into daily 
contact with men who have won more than ordinary 
standing, they are inclined to think only of these, and 
commiserate themselves while overlooking the crowd 
in which, for all they know, there are many who al- 
though as well fitted to succeed as themselves, are far 
worse off. Whatever the cause, newspaper workers 
are a dissatisfied lot. To the young man who asks 
them whether they would advise him to go in for jour- 
nalism, they almost unanimously shout, "No, don't!" 
and asked to give reasons for their attitude they pro- 
ceed to make out what to them appears to be a pretty 
strong case. They say that their ranks are over- 
crowded, and touching on this point they invariably 
compare themselves with members of the professions ; 
that for them, experience does not count ; that old age 
destroys their usefulness; that fame is out of their 
reach; that they cannot hope to become newspaper 



268 Making a Newspaper 

owners; that long service in itself brings them nc 
rewards; that their fortunes do not advance with 
those of their papers; and that beginners are propor- 
tionately the best paid. 

Having already pointed out some of the delights of 
journalism and told how a newspaper is made, it is 
only right that something should be said about these 
drawbacks. It would not be fair to omit them, and 
further, any man who goes in for newspaper work is 
sure to have them called to his attention anyway, 
before he has seen more than a few weeks' service, for, 
as has been pointed out, they are favorite topics of 
conversation among newspaper workers. About the 
contention of overcrowding in the large cities the tes- 
timony is all on one side. The most optimistic editor 
who lives does not deny that it exists; every day his 
office is besieged by men in search of employment, and 
many of the applicants, he must confess, give evidence 
that they are capable workers, even if they are not won- 
ders. And reporters, although in the majority, are not 
the only visitors; there is, among the place-hunters, 
a goodly number of editorial writers and city editors, 
and a fair sprinkling of men qualified to hold other 
high places. 

Primarily the overcrowding is, of course, due to the 
ease with which newspaper work may be entered; it 
is frequently the first refuge of the young man who 
seeks to turn his general knowledge to account, and the 
last refuge or the tiding-over resort of the man who, 
forced from his accustomed orbit, has to look for a 
new means of gaining a living. Secondly, the over- 
crowding comes because there is a constant influx of 
workers from the small towns, and almost no move- 
ment in the other direction. 



The Prizes in Journalism 269 

Experience weighs about as lightly in a newspaper 
office as it is possible for it to weigh anywhere. There 
is no requisite which years alone will bring, and in all 
except the highest places age is a hindrance rather than 
a help. The newspaper business is one wherein young- 
men shine, and having failed to fight their way well 
toward the front, the middle-aged find small demand 
for their services. The fittest survive only until they 
are unfit, and sentiment is not allowed to interfere with 
the process of exclusion. Further, there are in news- 
paper offices no easy berths for men of long service; 
advancement brings not only heavier responsibilities 
but harder work and often longer hours as well. 

That fame and reputation are hard to win in journal- 
ism is unquestionable. It is the almost universal rule 
that newspaper workers must write anonymously, and 
this is especially true of the editorial writers, for the 
editorials are supposed to stand for the paper and not 
for the men who work for it. Editors who handle 
news, aside from those who have proprietary interests 
in the newspapers on which they work, become known 
to the public little more than do the editorial writers. 
However much respected and esteemed they are by 
those with whom they come into close contact, their 
reputations do not travel far. If one doubts this he 
has only to undertake to name the editors-in-chief or 
the managing editors of the papers in any large 
city. 

Would-be journalists, when they are told that fame 
is not often gained in newspaper offices, usually ask 
whether it can be denied that men have won glory as 
war correspondents. It cannot ! But how many men 
have become famous through reporting battles on land 
or sea for daily newspapers? Can anyone name two 



270 Making a Newspaper 

men who were war correspondents at the time of the 
Civil War? Coming nearer to the present, who were 
the regularly employed newspaper men that won 
renown reporting the battles of the Spanish- American 
War for the daily journals? Scores of correspondents 
traveled with the American forces, and most of them 
performed their duties in a manner that left nothing 
to be desired. Perhaps someone can name four of them. 
If so, is the person who can give the four names abso- 
lutely sure that the correspondents attained fame ; cer- 
tain that they were not merely exploited for the time 
by a paper which wanted to create the impression that 
its newsgatherers were of higher caliber than those of 
its competitors ? Whatever the reply is, let the person 
answer two more questions : Where are the four cor- 
respondents now? What are they doing? 

The newspaper worker through newspaper work 
alone cannot possibly acquire enough to permit him 
to start a newspaper of his own in a large city ; saving 
until he had $20,000, he would not be in so good a 
position to embark as would the salesman or the profes- 
sional man who had only a twentieth part of this sum. 
No one would purchase a paper whose news service 
was poor, when the smallest coin in circulation 
procures one which records the news of the whole 
world, and without readers a paper could attract 
no advertisers, for these come only when the readers 
exist. In an established paper which was making 
money, the man who had only $20,000 would get no 
chance to invest, and into one which was not making 
money, in view of the heavy expenses, he would be 
foolish to put his capital. 

A newspaper office in a large city, aside from the 
pressrooms and business office, is one of the few places 



The Prizes in Journalism 271 

where the attainment of success does not demand a 
corresponding increase in the equipment When a 
newspaper starts in these days it must, if it is to live, 
have even for the first issue a full complement of 
workers, and thus it comes about that growth creates 
no new places to which capable men can be promoted. 
Nor does the attainment of success bring about an 
advancement of salaries. The duties of the editors 
and reporters are the same whether their paper has 
one hundred readers or one hundred thousand, and 
demanding full pay when a venture's future is uncer- 
tain, they have no reason to ask for more simply 
because they find it becoming a great money-maker. 

About the attractiveness of the monetary rewards 
of daily journalism each man can decide for himself. 
The capital prizes are usually underrated by reporters 
and sub-editors; but they are not so large as many 
persons who are outside of newspaper offices are led 
to believe; nor are they so numerous. Most reporters 
and sub-editors are firmly convinced that no editor is 
receiving over $15,000 a year; a good many of the 
outsiders believe that at least a half-dozen editors are 
receiving $60,000 a year each, and that $25,000 sala- 
ries are fairly plentiful. The truth lies between the 
two ideas. Not taking into account the amounts set 
aside for men who have pecuniary interests in the pub- 
lications to which they devote their attention, the 
greatest yearly income received by a daily newspaper 
editor in the United States can be set down as about 
$50,000. Only one prize of this size exists. The next 
highest amount, also received by only one man, ap- 
proaches $35,000. Two or three other workers get 
something like $20,000 each, and there are about a 
half dozen more who get in the neighborhood of 



272 Making a Newspaper 

$15,000. Possibly ten others reach the $10,000 mark. 
The total number of those who receive $5,000 a year 
or over, men who are most competent to judge esti- 
mate at about three hundred. An experienced war 
correspondent who has a reputation receives about 
$100 a week and his expenses paid while he is at the 
front. 

Newspaper salaries are larger in New York than 
in any other city in the United States, with the natural 
result that from all over the country editors and re- 
porters flock to New York in search of employment. 
Hundreds make the pilgrimage every year and thou- 
sands more are always contemplating it; in every 
other city and in nine-tenths of the villages of the 
country there are newspaper men who are saving 
money, or fully intend to save it, to make the journey. 

Probably seven-eighths of the newspaper men who 
journey to New York from other places in search of 
employment fail in their quest; and to none does 
failure come harder than to those from the small 
country towns, for somehow or other, the conviction 
has become fixed in these places that men who have 
spent several years working on country dailies or 
weeklies are in high favor in the big cities, particularly 
New York, and that they need only announce them- 
selves to be taken in with open arms. In reality, the 
country newspaper worker is not in great demand in 
New York or any other large city, and the man whose 
application for employment is backed up by nothing 
more than a statement that he has been trained on a 
weekly publication or a small town daily, stands almost 
no show of getting a situation on a paper where 
novices are not received. The applicants who are 
viewed with favor are those who come from papers in 



The Prizes in Journalism 273 

the medium-sized cities, places big enough to keep three 
or four reporters for each paper busy, and yet not 
large enough to make necessary the department 
system. 

Despite all this the number of men actively engaged 
in newspaper work in New York who were born and 
brought up elsewhere is far greater than is the number 
of those who are natives of the city; it occasionally 
happens that a paper does not have on its staff a single 
reporter, copy reader, or editor who is native-born. But 
this does not prove in itself that the small town and 
country-bred men are the more aggressive fighters. 
It is hard for the city man to get a start, for inexperi- 
enced men are not received everywhere, and again, 
for one reason or another, city men are not attracted 
by daily journalism quite as strongly as are some 
others. It must not be understood, though, that all 
the New York newspaper men who are natives of other 
places were experienced when they arrived in the city ; 
many made their start in New York, having come to 
the city immediately after leaving college. 

The inexperienced man who gets a place on the 
staff of a New York daily is usually set to work at 
a salary of $15 a week. At the end of his first year 
the new reporter who has good reason to believe that 
he has come up to expectations, may look for an ad- 
vance of $5 a week. Those who do unusually well 
get another advance of the same size at the close of 
their second year's service; but the majority are com- 
pelled to work for three years before their salary is 
increased for the second time. The experienced re- 
porter who comes from another city is usually started 
at $20 or $25 a week, and advanced as soon as he 
proves deserving. Workers who come to the city by 



274 Making a Newspaper 

request, of course, make special arrangements regard- 
ing pay. 

The incomes of morning newspaper men in New 
York, as elsewhere, average higher than do those of 
workers on the afternoon publications. Few experi- 
enced morning paper reporters receive less than $25 
a week, and $35 is common; while the long service 
men who are paid at space rates run far over this 
amount. A good space man will average $60 a week, 
and there are a few stars who have weekly guarantees 
of $75. They receive this much as a minimum, and 
in particularly good weeks will make $90 or $100. 
The highest space rate is $8 a column, and the lowest 
$5 ; but occasionally double rates are allowed for beats 
or particularly well-written stories. Only the very 
best space men work under guarantees. The others 
are paid only for such of their stories as appear in 
print, or for the time they spend in seeking news ; for 
working several hours on a story and getting nothing, 
or material for a bare paragraph, they are permitted 
to charge for their time at the rate of fifty cents an 
hour. For the time they spend in the office waiting 
for assignments they receive nothing. It is possible, 
though, as the minimum pay for an article bearing 
a heading is $1, be it only five or six lines long, for a 
reporter to receive anywhere from $10 to $20 for 
stories that together would fill only a column. Every 
good space man depends upon the Sunday supplements 
to help him to keep up his average. 

There are at present no space writers regularly em- 
ployed on the New York evening papers. Salaries 
only are paid, and because of this many reporters look 
back with regret to the days when paid according to 
their output they received half as much again as they 



The Prizes in Journalism 275 

now do. Employed on the evening papers there are 
plenty of good reporters whose salary is $30 a week, 
and many capable of handling any story that comes 
their way who get only $25. Forty dollars is consid- 
ered generous pay. The few men who get $45 or more 
are those who cannot easily be replaced, men who, hav- 
ing had the opportunity to make a specialty of financial, 
legal, political, or other reporting of like importance, 
can get news which would escape other reporters not 
accustomed to their work. Fifty dollars is about the 
limit for afternoon paper reporters. 

Among the best paid workers are those who rewrite 
stories telephoned in by the reporters or delivered by 
the newsgathering concerns. Most of these men em- 
ployed on the afternoon papers receive $45 a week, 
while a few get as high as $65. Reporters who do 
office writing for the morning papers usually make 
about $45 a week, with an occasional man making 
$60. Pay for department reporters averages less 
than that of general workers, not often passing the 
$30 mark. Usual pay for copy readers on evening 
papers is $35 a week, although in some offices the uni- 
form salary is $40. Morning paper copy readers al- 
most always receive $40, and the energetic ones in- 
crease this amount by $10 or $20 by contributing to 
their Sunday supplements. 

In theory, at least, a copy reader is a grade higher 
than a reporter, but not all reporters are anxious to 
be made copy readers. Instead, a great many of the 
best newsgatherers take pains to create the impression 
in their offices that as copy readers they would cut 
sorry figures. Making as much or more money than 
copy readers, and having outdoor work with a good 
bit of freedom, they do not elect to tie themselves down 



276 Making a Newspaper 

merely for the privilege of placing themselves in 
direct line for promotion. The reporter who has of- 
fered to him a place at the copy desk has reached the 
parting of the ways. On the side of the reporter the 
good points are outdoor life, frequent contact with 
men of affairs with the consequent chance to get into 
business or politics, and freedom from responsibility 
for other men's mistakes. On the side of the copy 
reader are exemption from the danger of defeat while 
seeking news, a little authority, fixed hours, and the 
prospect of promotion to an editorship. Frequently 
reporters are promoted over the heads of copy readers, 
but not unless they can read copy as well as gather 
news, and in addition possess desirable qualities or 
accomplishments which the available copy readers 
lack. It is a common saying among newspaper men 
that the best reporters often make the poorest editors, 
but this is only expressing in another way the evident 
truth that because a man is a good worker himself it 
does not follow necessarily that he can direct others. 
The man who does give up newsgathering for copy 
reading in a sense renews his allegiance to journalism, 
signifies that he expects to stand or fall by what he 
accomplishes in it, and that he has no exterior am- 
bitions. 

On morning papers in New York editors-in-chief and 
managing editors ordinarily receive from $10,000 to 
$15,000 a year. City editors' salaries range from $4,000 
to $7,500, while telegraph editors receive from $2,000 to 
$3,000. Editorial writers average $5,000, but there 
are a few men of long service and extraordinary ability 
who pass the $10,000 mark. Night city editors earn 
about $4,000 a year. On evening papers the editors-in- 
chief and managing editors get in the neighborhood of 



The Prizes in Journalism 277 

$7,500; city editors from $3,000 to twice this amount, 
and telegraph editors from $1,500 to $2,500; while 
salaries of editorial writers range between $2,500 and 
$5,000. For a dramatic critic on either a morning or 
an evening paper $3,000 is good pay, while art critics 
and book reviewers without reputations earn about 
$2,000. Papers which make a specialty of financial 
news pay the editor who looks after its collection and 
preparation for publication, anywhere from $2,500 
to $6,500 a year. An exchange editor's salary ranges 
from $1,500 to $2,500 a year, depending upon the 
financial condition and the importance of his paper, 
and in his class are the majority of the special depart- 
ment editors. The sporting editor, though, usually 
gets more than do other department heads. The pay 
of a Sunday editor is about $3,000 a year, unless he is 
one of the two or three men who have charge of the 
supplements from beginning to end, and are not under 
the supervision of a managing editor, in which case 
he may get $5,000. Illustrators and cartoonists are 
on the average better paid than are writers. A fairly 
good illustrator will, if he works for a salary, get $40 
a week, and a first-class man working on space will 
make almost twice this amount. A few of the leading 
cartoonists receive salaries which do not suffer much 
when compared with those paid the managing editors 
of their papers. The photographers who hunt news 
with cameras are, considering the obstacles they have 
to overcome and the risks they run, poorly recom- 
pensed. Reporters treading on forbidden ground try 
to look anything else than newsgatherers ; the photog- 
raphers are expected to look just as innocent and go 
just as far despite their tell-tale apparatus. Again, 
reporters, for policy's sake, frequently view the per- 



278 Making a Newspaper 

sons about whom they are collecting information from 
across the street, and even then do it unostentatiously. 
The photographers must throw discretion to the 
winds, and by their boldness defy the game. When, 
now and then, a victim turns, smashes a camera 
and threatens to chastise the man who operates it, the 
hunter, now turned hunted, is supposed to effect a com- 
promise and somehow or other return to the office 
bearing in triumph the picture he set out to get. 
Thirty-five dollars a week is good pay for a photog- 
rapher. 

In Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. 
Louis, and San Francisco, reporters get from $600 to 
$2,500; copy readers from $1,200 to $2,000; editorial 
writers, from $2,000 to $5,000; and city editors, from 
$2,000 to $5,000. For managing editors and editors- 
in-chief, the maximum is about $10,000. In other 
cities which have populations in excess of one hun- 
dred thousand, pay runs about as follows : editor-in- 
chief or managing editor, $4,000; editorial writer, 
$1,800 to $2,000; city editor, $1,500 to $2,500; copy 
readers and reporters, $600 to $2,000. 

In cities which have less than one hundred thousand 
inhabitants, and over twenty-five thousand, there is 
not even the roughly fixed standard of wages that 
exists in larger cities, and a newspaper man's salary 
depends at least as much on the ability of his paper to 
pay as it does on his own work. Commonly, the re- 
cruits come from the local high schools, each of which 
every year turns out several young men who, having 
no career mapped out, are glad to become reporters at 
$5 a week. Not many newspaper workers in these 
small cities make $1,500 a year; the one who receives 
$2,000 is a rare exception; $12 a week is fair pay for 



The Prizes in Journalism 279 

a good reporter, and only the leaders get as much 
as $18. 

For the services of a woman in a newspaper office 
there is not much demand ; and in the opinion of most 
men who are engaged in newspaper work, a woman is 
entirely out of place in the reporters' room. The men 
are not of this mind because they object to a woman 
competing with them or because they imagine that a 
woman has not as good a right as a man to earn a liv- 
ing, but rather because they are convinced that report- 
ing is not woman's work. They do not like to see a 
woman tramping around day and night, rain or shine, 
and they do not like to think of the places she has to 
visit, and the unseemly errands she has to perform. To 
state the plain truth, a woman never gets a place in 
the general newsroom because she is a reporter, but 
only because she is a woman. Once employed, she is 
looked upon as a kind of strange bird which is to be de- 
tailed on strange assignments, and everything she 
writes is labeled directly or indirectly "By Our 
Woman Reporter." It is not enough for her to write 
a plain statement of fact at any time; always her 
stories must display their origin. The woman reporter 
whose name goes down on the city editor's schedule 
as do the names of the men — first in first out— does not 
exist. 

To any woman who thinks that she wants to become 
a general newsgatherer, the following incident is 
respectfully submitted, A year or so ago, in a city 
which need not be named, there was brought to the 
notice of the police a murder which had connected with 
it all the fittings of a first-class mystery. A young man 
and a young woman late at night had gone to a hotel 
and procured a room ; the next morning the man was 



280 Making a Newspaper 

found dead in the room with a bullet-hole in his head, 
while the young woman was missing. For a few 
hours the police were baffled; then following the few 
clews provided they came to the conclusion that a cer- 
tain woman was the murderer. But because their 
evidence was insufficient, they refrained from making 
an arrest. While they were marking time, the day for 
the young man's funeral came, and then it became 
known that the suspected woman, who was conducting 
herself as if she were unaware that suspicion was at- 
tached to her, was to follow the body to the grave. On 
the morning of this day, an editor summoned a woman 
reporter, and when she appeared said to her: "I 
believe that this woman is guilty, and I want you to 
get a confession." Then he delivered orders as a re- 
sult of which the woman reporter dressed herself in 
deep black, went to the funeral, got into the carriage 
that carried the suspect, and posing as a mourner, rode 
with her to the cemetery. As it turned out nothing 
came of the ride, for the suspected woman kept silent, 
but it gave the men reporters who discovered the ruse 
something to talk about in private. They all wondered 
what the woman reporter talked about, and what she 
thought during the ride. 

When it comes to special work there is room for 
women in newspaper offices, although the places are 
few. The novelty of the woman journalist has worn 
off, and even the largest papers now employ only two 
or three regularly. A woman can collect society news 
better than can a man, she can handle the fashions and 
the recipes better, she can compete on even terms with 
him as literary editor, and she alone can successfully 
conduct the woman's page or the woman's column. But 
it is not every woman who can do these things. It is 



The Prizes in Journalism 281 

not enough that a woman need the money and that she 
be willing. She must have a fertile mind, she must be 
observant, and she must be able to write entertain- 
ingly. Her material, too, she must procure herself, and 
she must fill the space allotted to her without fail. To 
write a column of popular topics every day is an exceed- 
ingly hard thing to do, and it certainly must be doubly 
hard when the subjects must all be restricted to the 
feminine. In a newspaper office the woman who con- 
ducts a department or a page has the respect and good 
will of every one, and the space-paid reporters regard 
her with admiration and almost with envy. Possessing 
her skill, they tell themselves they would become rich. 
The salaries paid to woman journalists are not as large 
as they are generally supposed to be ; worse than this, 
they are smaller than they ought to be. The women 
who get $40 a week are as rare as comets, and the ones 
who get $30 are few. Twenty to twenty-five dollars 
is good pay in the largest cities, and outside of the half- 
dozen leading cities, $18 is about the limit. 



CHAPTER XVII 
WITH THE PRINTERS 

While it is a common custom for city news- 
paper men, while talking about the making of a paper, 
to give the impression that a story is as good as in 
print the moment it leaves the editorial rooms, or that 
it has at least reached the stage where it can cause no 
more worry, it is a great mistake to assume that the 
mechanical department is nothing more than a ma- 
chine which, as long as it is supplied with copy, can do 
nothing else than turn out printed papers. What 
the newspaper men, who close their talks on newspaper 
making by saying, "And from here the stories go to 
the printers," actually mean, whether they realize it or 
not, is that the mechanical workers are a uniformly 
efficient body of men who can be depended upon to 
carry out the tasks assigned to them in a highly 
praiseworthy manner, and with the greatest possible 
speed. A very large proportion of the true wonder- 
workings of modern daily journalism are performed 
in the mechanical department. 

There are four main sub-divisions in this, the last 
station through which a newspaper passes on its way 
to the readers, and every newspaper worker should 
take enough interest in his calling to learn something 
about each one. The business manager and the higher 
editors invariably do take the trouble to acquire a fair 
working knowledge of them, and because of this they 

28a 



With the Printers 283 

are always able to ascertain where the fault lies when 
the paper is slow in coming from the presses, without 
having to listen to bewildering explanations. The 
city editor and the copy readers have to learn some- 
thing about at least one phase of the mechanical work 
to avoid setting impossible tasks for the printers, and 
the reporters have to acquire the same knowledge if 
they are to guard against having occasional stories 
torn apart and reconstructed for physical reasons 
alone. 

First in the mechanical department come the com- 
positors, who reproduce in type the articles prepared 
by the editors and reporters; next are the photo- 
engravers, who prepare the plates from which pic- 
tures are printed; then come the stereotypers, who 
from the pages of type make duplicate stereotype 
plates; and last are the pressmen, who operate and 
keep in repair the exceedingly complicated printing 
machines. Since the photo-engravers are employed 
only where pictures are printed, and are therefore not 
indispensable, it is just as well in undertaking to ex- 
plain the actual making of a newspaper to take up 
their work first and dispose of it before passing 
on to that performed by the men commonly included 
in the general term "printers." 

There are two kinds of pictures printed— line draw- 
ings made from pen and ink sketches, and half-tones, 
which are reproductions of photographs— and prepar- 
ing plates for either, the photo-engraver proceeds in the 
same manner. The picture which is to be printed is at 
the start tacked on a board and, under the glare of an 
electric arc light, photographed. Then the film-bear- 
ing plate is taken from the camera and developed in 
the usual way, after which the film, after being 



284 Making a Newspaper 

toughened by applications of chemicals, is stripped 
from the glass, reversed, and deposited on another piece 
of glass, heavy and clear. This second piece of glass is 
now placed in a printing-frame with its film side 
tightly pressed against a polished plate of zinc, the 
face of which has been sensitized. An exposure of a 
few minutes to electric light prints the picture on the 
zinc, which is, after having been taken from the frame, 
rolled with ink, and then subjected to a bath which 
removes most of the coating, leaving only the repro- 
duction of the picture in sticky lines. Then the plate, 
after drying, is covered with a chemical known as 
dragon's blood, which, adhering only to the sticky 
lines, forms a covering for them when it has been 
heated and allowed to cool. To complete the process, 
it is only necessary to immerse the plate in a bath of 
nitric acid, which etches or bites the zinc away where 
it is exposed. 

Coming from the acid, a photo-engraving can be 
sent to the make-up men as soon as it can be 
mounted on a block and made "type high." But 
a line drawing plate requires a little more atten- 
tion. Before it is ready to be placed on a block it must 
be gone over by the routers, who cut off rough edges 
and, with rapidly driven burrs, grind away the zinc 
where it has been eaten by the acid until the drawing 
stands out in bold relief. If everything moves 
smoothly, a half-tone plate is made from a finished 
photograph or drawing, and mounted in from thirty 
to thirty-five minutes. 

The compositors, once commonly known as type- 
setters and now usually called machine operators, are 
generally quartered in the top floor of the newspaper 
building; the reasons for this are that they can work 



With the Printers 285 

best when they have good light, and that the machines 
they operate throw off noxious fumes which make 
good ventilation necessary. Until comparatively re- 
cent years the compositors, standing in front of cases 
divided into compartments, picked up the lead types 
one at a time and, laying them in receptacles called 
sticks, spelled out the words indicated in the copy 
provided. But now in the large establishments little 
real typesetting, if advertisements and headings are 
excepted, is done, the handworkers having made way 
for machines, each of which operated by a skilled man 
will, in a given time, do four or five times as much 
work as an average old-style compositor. In general 
use at the present time there are three kinds of these 
machines. One, now rarely seen, sets types somewhat 
as did the hand compositors, magazines or reservoirs, 
however, taking the place of cases; another molds 
types from molten metal; while the third, the one 
most widely employed, also using molten metal, 
turns out reading matter in solid lines, hence the name 
Linotype. All the machines have keyboards and 
are operated much as are typewriters. Where the 
machines which set actual types are installed, there is 
a second piece of apparatus employed to distribute 
the types after they have been used. The machine 
which makes types is in two sections; one section, 
which carries the keyboard, perforates a strip of paper, 
while the second, absorbing the paper and guided by 
the perforations, completes the work. In the Linotype 
the brass molds, or matrices, after permitting the mold- 
ing of a line, are automatically returned to the reser- 
voirs. In both the machines which do molding, the 
product after use goes back to the melting pot. The 
equipment of a large newspaper includes forty or fifty 



286 Making a Newspaper 

composing machines, and in the composing room 
about one hundred men, including perhaps twenty-five 
"ad" hands — men who set advertisements — are fre- 
quently employed. All are under the care of a foreman 
who is held responsible for the character of the work 
performed, and who does any disciplining found neces- 
sary. 

Perhaps as good a way as any to explain how a 
paper is printed is to follow a story or two from the 
time they are written until they appear in the paper. 
For the purpose of illustration, it may be supposed 
that the day is just starting in the office of an evening 
publication which is not in the habit of issuing day- 
break editions, and that two reporters are at work, 
one writing about a collision, the other about a fire. 
After editing the opening pages of the two stories, and 
here it must be pointed out once more that reporters 
usually send their copy to the city editor a page or two 
at a time, the copy reader summons an office boy who, 
placing the pages in a miniature elevator or pneumatic 
tube, starts them off for the composing room. Reach- 
ing there, they stop, as does all material that is to be 
printed, at the desk of the copy cutter, an individual 
who, although he is rarely heard of outside of the room 
where he works, performs a task that calls for an 
active brain, nimble fingers, and a particularly cool 
head. 

The main purpose of the copy cutter's employment 
is to save time, and this calls for the explanation that 
fast as a composing machine is, it is at times not fast 
enough. A single machine to turn out a column of 
type requires about an hour, no matter how skillful 
the operator, and the editors could never afford to 
wait this long for a column story which the entire city 



With the Printers 287 

was anxious to read. The copy cutter gets around 
the difficulty by cutting each long story that reaches 
the composing room into pieces and distributing them, 
thus permitting a number of men to work on the story 
at one time. It is not a hard thing to distribute the 
pieces of manuscript, anyone could do this; but it is 
extremely difficult to plan, while effecting the distri- 
bution so that the pieces of each story, after they are 
turned into type, can be assembled quickly and accu- 
rately. The size of the takes that go to the com- 
positors depends always upon the nearness of the time 
for issuing the next edition. If there is no cause for 
hurry, a man commonly gets enough material to make 
four or five inches of type. But if, at the last moment, 
the editors contribute an important story which is 
marked "Rush," the copy cutter divides more closely 
and gives each man only enough to make three or four 
lines. The copy cutter, as a rule, pastes the pages that 
come to him together and divides so as to make each 
take include a paragraph, which relieves him of the 
necessity of making a lot of explanatory markings; 
and it is because of this that matter intended for pub- 
lication must not be written on both sides of the paper. 
Of course, the copy cutter adheres to a system. He 
could not hope to remember where all the pieces of a 
story went, nor could he hope to accomplish much by 
running around the office at intervals, taking a look at 
each operator's product and issuing verbal instructions. 
There are a number of different systems employed, 
but the one in most common use is based on a chart 
ruled into two-inch lettered squares. The top square 
of each column is lettered A, the next B, and so on. 
It may here be supposed, to return to the description 
undertaken, that the copy cutter, having ruled and 



288 Making a Newspaper 

lettered his chart on a big sheet of paper, has just 
fastened it on the flat top of his desk, when a warning 
bell rings and the two stories already spoken of stop 
at his elbow. In a moment, he has the roll of copy 
unfolded, and is inspecting the pages. Quickly he 
ascertains through the catch lines that there are 
two stories, and glances at the highest numbered 
pages tell him that neither one is complete. First 
he takes the three pages of the "Collide'' story, which 
are written in lead pencil with the lines far apart, and 
pastes them together in order. Then, with a snip of 
his shears, he divides the sheet thus made into two 
pieces. After placing on the first piece at the top, with 
a heavy crayon pencil, the marking iA, and on the 
second in like manner 2A, he lays them on the edge of 
his desk, whence they are hurried to two operators, 
turns to his chart and in the square heading the first 
column writes over the A he finds there the word 
"Collide," and after the letter the figure 2 followed 
by a dash, the latter to indicate that there is "more to 
come." This done, the copy cutter attacks the second 
story, four typewritten pages. With the aid of his 
paste-brush he joins them, and a moment later, under 
his shears, the sheet falls into six pieces, which are 
soon numbered as were the others, only now the letter 
B is used. Placing these takes where he did the 
others, the copy cutter a second time turns to his chart, 
and in the second square of the first column over the 
B writes "Fire," and after, the letter makes the mark- 
ing 6—. 

At this juncture, it may be supposed, a fresh lot of 
copy arrives from the editorial rooms, among it the 
five pages that bring the "Collide" story to an end. 
These, pasted and divided, become 3A, 4A, and 5A, 



With the Printers 289 

and with them started toward the machines the copy 
cutter in the A square already marked writes 5 +, 
thus making the square carry the complete marking 
Collide A 2 — 5+. The plus mark signifies that the 
story is "closed" and the marking entire says that the 
"Collide" story reached the composing room in two 
installments; that it was divided among five opera- 
tors ; and that it is complete. If now, two more short 
pages which end the "Fire" report reach him, the copy 
cutter has only to join them, mark the sheet 7B and 
add 7 + to his B square to get this story, too, pretty 
well off his hands. All that remains for him to do 
is to pick up the two slips of paper, write on one A5 
and on the other B7, and send them to the men who 
receive the sections of type from the machines, as a 
notification that two stories are coming, one in five 
sections, the other in seven. 

In view of the foregoing explanation, it might 
appear as if the copy cutter did not have such 
a hard time after all, but to prove that he must 
remain alert and cool-headed, it is hardly neces- 
sary to say anything more than that in practice 
long before he is through with A and B, he is strug- 
gling with C, D, E, F, and G, and maybe with even 
more stories, all reaching him piecemeal. The copy 
cutter begins to use the second column of his chart 
after the first is filled, but by this time the early stories 
are out of the way, so there is no danger of confusion. 

The bankmen, who assemble the sections of type 
received from the machines, depend for guidance on 
the slips sent to them by the copy cutter ; they never 
read the type, and if misleading instructions are given 
them, trouble is sure to follow. Their workbench is 
the bank, a long waist-high counter, the top of 



290 Making a Newspaper 

which slopes toward them as they stand in front of 
it. Along the top, from end to end, six or seven 
inches apart, run narrow strips of wood about a half 
inch high, and resting against these strips and by them 
prevented from sliding off to the floor, are numerous 
brass trays, three and a half to four inches wide, and 
of all lengths up to a column. In these trays, called 
galleys, which are flat-bottomed and inclosed on both 
sides and one end by an edge a trifle over a half inch 
high, are received the sections of type as they are car- 
ried from the composing machines. To follow the 
work of a bankman, let it be supposed that he has just 
received from the copy cutter the slip marked 5A. 
Picking up a medium-sized galley, for the figure 5 
tells him that the story is not a long one, he goes over 
it carefully with a damp sponge to remove all dirt or 
dust which, getting under the base of the type, might 
throw some of it "off its feet," and then returns it to 
the bank, resting it lengthwise against one of the 
wooden strips. With a piece of chalk he now writes 
boldly near the galley's open end, on its bottom, 5A, 
and then up near the closed end, marks the figure 1. 
Three or four inches from this figure 1 he writes the 
figure 2, and follows this up with 3, 4, and 5, at in- 
tervals. He is now ready to receive "A Matter," and 
the quicker it comes the better is he satisfied. 

It rarely happens that the type sections reach the 
bank in the order in which the pieces of copy were 
given out, and it may reasonably be supposed that in 
this instance 2K is the first to be delivered. Carrying 
the section in a short galley, one of the men who re- 
lieve the operators of their output walks up to the 
bank and looks around until he finds the galley 
marked A. Then he deftly lifts the section and deposits 



With the Printers 291 

it, with its beginning toward the closed end of 
the galley, and one side resting against the galley's 
lower edge exactly on the figure 2. Three A, 
which supposedly comes next, is placed on the 
figure 3, and before long the other three sections are 
set in place. The bankman who, all this time, has 
been keeping an eye on the galley, the moment he sees 
all the numbers covered, begins to get the story ready 
for the proof press. First, he slides the first section, 
that which carries the heading, up against the galley's 
end ; next, he moves section 2 up as far as it will go, 
and after this the other sections. The article is now 
solid from end to end, but between the sections are 
strips of lead bearing the numbers of the operators 
who made them. Each operator has a number, and 
while at work is known as "Slug 7" or whatever his 
number may be, instead of by his name. Invariably, 
when a section of type is deposited on the bank, it is 
headed by the slug of the man who made it, and these 
slugs are not removed until after proofs have been 
taken and the article has been corrected. If the opera- 
tors are doing piece work the slugs enable them to 
prove title to their output, and in any event tell the 
foreman how much and what class of work each man 
is doing. 

As soon as the bankman has joined the sections of 
an article, he lays a strip of metal along the free side 
of the type, and inserting wedges behind it, locks the 
article firmly in place; after this he turns the gal- 
ley over to a boy who carries it to the proof press, 
where four proofs are taken, one for the managing 
editor, one for the foreman of the composing room, 
one for the proofreaders, and one for the operators. 
The proof press in its simplest form is an iron bed a 



292 Making a Newspaper 

foot wide and three or four times as long, over which 
a heavy felt-covered roller can be trundled. Laying 
a galley on the press bed, the proofmaker, after ink- 
ing the type, adjusts a slip of paper and makes an im- 
pression by passing the roller over it. 

With the proofs when they are sent to the proof- 
room, at the head of which is a foreman who appor- 
tions the work, goes the copy which directed the com- 
positor. Always the proofreaders work in pairs, a 
proofreader proper who receives the printed slip, and 
a copy holder who receives the copy. Both ready, the 
copy holder begins to read aloud while the proof- 
reader, who keeps his eyes on the printed slip and 
reads to himself, keeps pace with him ; marking errors, 
as they proceed, on the proof's margin. It is highly 
necessary that the copy holder be employed, for with- 
out him it would be impossible to catch omissions and 
added words, where the change did not destroy 
sense. The copy holders read very rapidly, but they 
must enunciate distinctly, even though they read for 
eight hours a day with only momentary rests. The 
correcting of mistakes is all done by a special squad of 
printers. A second proof is taken after a galley has 
been corrected, and the galley goes to the make-up 
men the moment the proofreader pronounces it all 
right. 

To the make-up men falls the task of taking the 
completed and corrected articles from the galleys and 
arranging them in the pages. The arrangement, how- 
ever, is not left to their judgment, as one of the 
editors, as has been explained, directs their move- 
ments, at least so far as the important stories are con- 
cerned. While a page is in the hands of the make-up 
men the chase, as the steel frame in which the stories 



With the Printers 293 

are deposited is called, rests flat upon a smooth, iron- 
topped table which, as it is supported on wheels, can be 
shifted from one position to another without much 
effort. The type or lines of type are moved about in 
sections like blocks of wood, a liberal application of 
water giving them a fair degree of firmness. But woe 
betide the man who grows careless with types. 
Grasped too loosely and lifted, a section will fall apart 
like ashes, while squeezed too tightly, it will bulge and 
fly in every direction. In either event the mixture 
that results is "pi" and the section must be reset. The 
product of the linotype is not easily "pied," but it has 
the disadvantage that to correct a single letter an en- 
tire line must be reset. In making up a page the 
longer articles are placed well toward the tops of the 
columns, while paragraphs and brief stories are used to 
justify or "make even" at the bottoms. Both editors 
and copy readers keep the make-up men in mind 
while at work, and send many short stories, items that 
are in themselves of little worth, to the printers with 
the thought that they can be used as "justifiers." 
Should the making-up at any time be retarded through 
a lack of these space fillers, the city editor is sure to be 
reminded that their presence in profusion is not only 
desirable but necessary. 

Having got a page filled to his satisfaction, and the 
two stories, "Collide" and "Fire," may now be con- 
sidered as having places where they will not be over- 
looked, the editor who directs the work gives the word 
to "lock up," and the page, after the columns of type 
have through the employment of side sticks, screws, 
and wedges, been securely fixed in place, and the 
whole surface has been gone over with a wooden 
block and a mallet to "plane" any irregularities, is 



294 Making a Newspaper 

started for the stereotypers. And now for a few 
moments the page of type which, once locked up, be- 
comes a form, is an exceedingly precious article; 
should any accident befall it the managing editor has 
good cause to tear his hair, for no paper can be issued 
until the damage has been repaired. And every long- 
established paper has in its history horrifying incidents 
dealing with "busted" forms. Sometimes the disaster 
comes when faulty locking up, resulting in uneven 
pressure, allows a good-sized section of type to 
drop when the form is lifted; sometimes it comes 
when a careless workman, bumping the form against 
some projecting corner, knocks in it a hole through 
which he could put his fist. But occasionally, even 
worse disasters are recorded. A stumble or a loose 
grasp may land the form on the floor a hopeless jumble 
of type, column rules, leads and dashes ; or the break- 
ing of an elevator cable may distribute these same 
things all over the basement five or ten floors down. 
It is the province of the stereotypers to reproduce 
the type pages in curved metal plates which can be at- 
tached in multiple to the cylinders of the big web 
presses. A type form in itself would be of no use in 
a modern pressroom; it could not be attached to any 
of the presses, and even were this obstacle in some 
way overcome, only one press could be run at a time, 
which would extend the period required to run off an 
edition running into the hundred thousands to several 
clays. Nor would this see an end to the difficulty, for 
long before the edition was nearly complete, the type 
faces would be worn off until they produced only 
blurs. The stereotypers, taking a page of type, re- 
produce from it, in an exceedingly few minutes, plates 
sufficient to equip perhaps a half-dozen compound 



With the Printers 295 

presses and allow them all to run at one time, and 
should it be found that a plate is showing signs of 
wear, they quickly offer another to take its place. 

Receiving a page, the stereotypers, who never have 
to be summoned but are always ready and waiting, 
slide it, face up, upon the flat bed of a strongly built 
press. Over the face of the types they adjust a damp 
sheet composed of a number of sheets of tissue paper 
pasted together, and after covering this with a blanket, 
start the machinery which moves the bed bearing the 
page under a heavy revolving steel drum. Adjusted 
so that it is scarcely more than the thickness of a sheet 
of cardboard above the face of the page, the roller 
forces the soft tissue sheet down so that it receives a 
clear impression of the types. With the paper sheet 
adhering, the page is now slid into another press, the 
upper part of which is immediately screwed down as 
tightly as two men, exerting all their strength on the 
big wheel at the top, can screw it, and here under 
pressure and subjected to great heat, for the machine 
is surrounded by pipes filled with steam, the form 
is left for three or four minutes. At the end of this 
time the press is opened and the paper sheet, now be- 
come a matrice, is removed. And now for the first 
time the metal page, so far as the edition under way 
is concerned, loses its value; if no more editions are 
to be printed it can develop the worst case of "pi" ever 
seen without causing the least confusion. But if other 
editions are to come the form is hurried back to the 
composing room and again attacked by the make-up 
men. 

The paper matrice in the twinkling of an eye, after 
it comes off the type page, is bent into a curve, 
thrust into a revolving oven which is heated by gas 



296 Making a Newspaper 

flames, and subjected to a minute's baking. Coming 
from the oven, it is gone over by the stereotypers, who, 
using pieces of some composition material, build up 
low places, and after having been trimmed to size with 
a pair of shears, is carried to the "Autoplate," one of 
the newest and greatest wonders of the modern news- 
paper establishment. Before this machine came into 
use, and it is not found in every city now, the stereo- 
typers, wishing to reproduce a page, adjusted the 
matrice in a molding box which, after being closed, 
was filled with molten metal. The box was opened 
after the lapse of a minute or two, or as soon as the 
metal had solidified, and the plate was taken out, 
dipped into a tank of water to cool it, and turned over 
to the trimmers, who planed off the edges and made 
it ready for the presses. This operation had to be 
gone through as many times as there were plates 
needed. The "Autoplate" performs all this work auto- 
matically. The matrice is put in place, the machine 
is started, and immediately the plates, cool enough to 
permit handling, begin to emerge, all ready to go to the 
pressroom, at the rate of four a minute, which speed can 
be kept up indefinitely, or certainly until the largest 
pressroom in the country is supplied. Each "Auto- 
plate" machine costs about $25,000, and the value 
assigned to seconds when they come at the time for 
going to press, in a modern newspaper establishment, 
cannot be better illustrated than by saying that sev- 
eral New York papers have two of these machines 
set up in their stereotyping departments. Where 
every facility is afforded, the stereotypers regularly 
deliver the first plate thirteen or fourteen minutes after 
a page of type is given into their hands, and follow this 
with duplicates at fifteen second intervals. To a per- 



With the Printers 297 

son unfamiliar with newspaper publishing, the ques- 
tion may here not unnaturally arise, "Why are so 
many plates of each page required?" and to answer 
this question it is necessary to pass to a description of 
the pressroom. 

Since the ultimate aim is to get all the printed papers 
into the hands of the readers quickly, it is the time 
required to print the entire edition which counts. 
Because of this the owner whose paper enjoys a large 
circulation has to install a number of presses and at- 
tain an early "finish," by operating several of them at 
one time. And, to be strictly accurate, it is not right 
to call one of the highly complicated printing machines 
"a press," for each one of them is not one press, but 
a number of presses built together. Thus there are 
double presses, quadruples, double quadruples, sextu- 
ples, octuples, double sextuples, and several other 
kinds. Dressed to print an 8-page paper, a quadruple 
press carries 32 plates, four of each page, while an 
octuple, printing the same size paper, carries eight 
plates of each page, or 64 in all. In the light of this 
explanation, it can be seen why duplicate plates are 
required, and it is only necessary to add that a quad- 
ruple press cannot be started until four plates for each 
page are in place, nor an octuple until eight plates for 
each page are on the cylinders, to show how desirable 
it is that the plates follow each other from the stereo- 
typing room in close order. 

Here it should be pointed out that the managing 
editor never, if he can avoid it, delivers a great number 
of pages to the stereotypers at one time. Long before 
the scheduled moment for going to press arrives, he 
makes up and sends along the editorial page and the 
ones which contain advertisements only, and after this 



298 Making a Newspaper 

at intervals delivers the inside news pages. Each 
page is attacked by the stereotypers the moment it 
reaches them, and the plates they produce are without 
delay screwed to the cylinders of the presses. Thus it 
comes about that, with the time for going to press 
close at hand, four compound presses may be 
equipped to turn out papers except that each one lacks 
four plates of one page. Usually it is the title page of 
the paper which is longest wanting, the editor holding 
it to insure good positions for the late news. Lis- 
tening to the make-up men planing the last page the 
stereotypers stand on pins and needles, feet braced and 
arms outstretched. When at last the page becomes 
theirs, it goes through the various processes as if by 
clockwork until the first plate is produced. The plate 
weighs 52 pounds, but the stereotypers swing it 
to the pressmen as if it were made of nothing heavier 
than cardboard. In a few seconds the pressmen have 
the plate in its place on one of the presses, and 
are back, like Oliver Twist, asking for more. The 
second and third plates in place, the fourth quickly 
follows. Then the press dressers spring from the maze 
of wheels with a shout of "All clear!" the foreman 
gives the signal, the wheels begin to turn, and out 
come the papers printed, folded, cut, and pasted 
at the rate, say, of 36,000 an hour. With one 
press at work the pressmen turn to the second one, and 
soon its machinery, too, is moving, and the papers are 
appearing at the rate of 72,000 an hour. The third 
press in motion brings the output up to 108,000, and 
the fourth in full swing lifts it to 144,000 an hour. 

The blank paper four pages wide is fed into each 
press from several rolls or webs, each of which at the 
start weighs about a half ton, and the printed papers 



With the Printers 299 

come out on platforms, neatly piled, with every fiftieth 
or hundredth one projecting a little beyond the others 
to save the "fly boys," who carry off the papers, the 
necessity of counting. To ascertain the total number 
of papers printed at any time, the foreman has only to 
inspect the counting machine with which each press 
is equipped. In the pressroom of the Brooklyn Eagle, 
the presses are fitted with the flying paste contrivance 
only recently introduced, which even does away 
with the necessity of stopping to renew the blank 
paper supply. The rolls, instead of resting on the 
press itself, are suspended, three in a set, on a triangu- 
lar frame at the press's end. At the start the press is 
fed from the top roll. Finding this roll getting low 
the head pressman slows the press to something like 
quarter speed and touches an electric button which 
causes the triangular frame to revolve slowly and 
bring the second roll, which begins to turn on its 
spindle up, inside the first and under the stream of 
paper leading from it. The free end of this second 
roll has been liberally covered with paste and finally, 
pressing against the flying web, it attaches itself to it 
and is carried along through the press. The pressman 
then cuts the first web, and after putting the press up 
to top speed again, sets about fitting a new roll in the 
place of the one exhausted. 

With all large presses it is possible to print papers 
of any number of pages up to the maximum, which 
is usually 32 pages, and most of them permit of 
many variations. Thus, in a double-quadruple press 
there are two distinct sets of printing machinery which 
can be operated separately or together. One end of 
the press can print in color and the other in black; if 
desired, a cover of one grade of paper can be printed 



300 Making a Newspaper 

and folded to include the ordinary output; and the 
pages can also be printed half size, and issued bound 
by wire staples in magazine form. Ink and oil are 
frequently supplied under air pressure from reservoirs 
some distance from the presses, and the rolls of paper 
are delivered either on small railways or traveling 
cranes. Every press of a kind that would now be in- 
stalled in New York costs a good-sized fortune, 
hardly less than $45,000, and when, as occasionally 
happens, one of them is started after a careless work- 
man has left a wrench or a steel bar in its interior, the 
damage that results in a half second may call for an 
expenditure of more money than the average mechanic 
earns in half a year. Usually, however, when any- 
thing goes wrong with one of the big printing ma- 
chines the damage is confined to one unit, and the re- 
moval of a few cogs and spindles allows the remainder 
of the press to be operated as before the accident. 

In theory, the limitations of a printing press, are 
unbounded, and in practice, they are determined only 
by the walls of the pressroom and by the amount of 
money available. The unit press is one having a single 
cylinder which revolves 200 times a minute. The 
cylinder which carries eight plates prints eight pages 
at every revolution, and therefore, in sixty minutes, or 
one hour, the output is 12,000 eight pages. A double 
press prints either 24,000 8-page or 12,000 16- 
page papers, while a quadruple, which is four single 
presses built together, prints 48,000 8-page or 24,000 
16-page papers. A double-quadruple or an octuple, 
in essence eight presses, prints 96,000 8-page or 
48,000 16-page papers, while a double-octuple has 
double this capacity. As has been said, there is 
no limit to the joining of units, but the largest presses 



With the Printers 301 

in operation are double-octuples. Seven of these ma- 
chines were not long ago made in New York and de- 
livered to a London newspaper. The largest press 
in New York is a double-sextuple, whose output is 
96,000 12-page or 72,000 16-page papers an hour. 
All these figures are maximums. In actual running, 
on account of time consumed in replacing rolls of paper 
and breaks in the webs, the pressroom foreman is well 
satisfied with an output of seventy-five per cent, of the 
maximum. The pressroom installation of the New 
York World embraces 12 compound presses which are 
equal to 70 single presses, and to fit them all 560 plates, 
weighing a total of 29,120 pounds, are required. 
Usually, to print the morning edition, nine presses 
are operated, each delivering 16,000 papers an hour, or 
a total of 144,000. With every press in this plant run- 
ning, the hourly output of 8-page papers would 
come close to 800,000 copies. Day in and day 
out the first paper is here printed within fifteen or six- 
teen minutes of the time the last page is delivered to 
the stereotypers, and with one press moving the others 
are started at intervals of not over two minutes. 

In a few evening paper offices where the spirit of 
rivalry is particularly rampant and where money is 
plentiful, the time required to get out a paper after 
the receipt of important news is greatly reduced 
through the employment of a device known as the 
"fudge." Where the fudge is included, in the mechani- 
cal department it is the practice of the editors to have 
the title page of the paper the moment it has been 
stereotyped for a regular edition, returned to the com- 
posing room and remade, this time with an open space, 
usually two columns wide and four or five inches high, 
left somewhere in it. From the page is now made an 



302 Making a Newspaper 

emergency plate which is hurried to the pressroom 
and deposited close to one of the presses. Probably 
forty-nine times out of fifty the emergency plate re- 
mains there untouched until it is picked up to go back 
to the melting pot, but for all this it is never forgotten, 
for when it is needed at all it is needed very badly. 

The fudge itself includes a small printing cylinder 
which is attached to one of the big presses, and a small 
curved chase which can be locked on the cylinder by a 
few turns of the wrist. To illustrate the operation of the 
fudge it may be supposed that, a few minutes after the 
printing of a regular edition has been begun, a piece 
of news which it is highly desirable should be made 
public is received in the editorial rooms. Immediately 
one of the editors writes a brief bulletin and delivers 
it to a fast compositor while another editor telephones 
to the pressroom that an "extra" is in order. The 
compositor does his best on his short take, and in 
less time than is required to tell it the bulletin is in 
type and on its way to the pressroom securely locked 
in a fudge chase. In the meantime the pressmen have 
stopped one of their presses, removed the regular title 
page plate and in its place fitted the "emergency." The 
press could now be run as before, but the papers would 
come out with a blank space on each front page. Re- 
ceiving the fudge chase the pressmen carry it to the 
small cylinder and fasten it on it in such a manner that 
the type bulletin will "key" exactly into the blank 
space left on the web after it has received the impres- 
sion of the emergency plate, and a moment later the 
press is again running. The bulletin is printed di- 
rectly from the type and in any color, as the small 
cylinder has an independent ink supply. If the New 
York City Hall were to fall down, both the Evening 



With the Printers 303 

Journal and the Evening World would, in all proba- 
bility, have "fudge extras" on the street within four 
minutes, and not unlikely one of them would cut this 
time by half a minute. 

When they are expecting a piece of news the men 
who direct the fudge work even more quickly, for the 
intelligence is received in the pressroom over a special 
telegraph wire and is turned into type on a composing 
machine set up right beside one of the presses. Scores 
of important baseball and football games are always 
received in the pressroom and printed within a minute 
and a half of the moment the figures are announced 
by the telegraph operator. But when the possible re- 
sults are known beforehand, as on the occasion of a 
horse race, the men who handle the quick printing 
apparatus perform not in minutes but in seconds. If 
there are four horses entered, .some editor early in the 
day has turned into type three independent lines for 
each one, thus, Firefly wins, Firefly was second, 
Firefly was third ; and shortly before the time set for 
the starting of the race these lines are arranged face 
up so that they can be easily read on a table close beside 
the fudge cylinder of a press bearing an emergency 
plate. The fudge chase which bears a type heading like 
"Suburban Result," having room left in it for only 
three lines of type is also placed on the table, and in 
front of it a quick-fingered man stations himself. 
At his elbow sits the telegraph operator, who is 
in direct communication with a man stationed at 
the finish line at the race track. When the race 
starts the operator announces, "They're off,'' and then, 
listening to his instrument, describes the progress of 
the contest. As the horses near the end of their 
journey there is a pause; then the result is announced. 



304 Making a Newspaper 

"Rob Roy wins," calls out the operator; "Firefly was 
second; Delano third." The lines of type bearing 
these announcements are slipped into the spaces left for 
them; the chase is locked and adjusted on its cylinder, 
a gong sounds, and before the race horses have been 
more than turned toward the paddock the press is 
moving. The feat has more than once been accom- 
plished in fifteen seconds. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
THE MONEY-MAKING DEPARTMENT 

And now that it has been explained how the re- 
porters and correspondents gather the news, how the 
editors prepare it for publication, how the editorial 
writers perform their duties, and how the printers 
actually make the paper, it is high time to say some- 
thing about that part of the newspaper which furnishes 
the money, and particularly about the purse holder, 
the business manager. In an actual newspaper office 
and not in a mere description of one, the business 
manager would never be found bringing up the tail 
end of the procession. Outside of the editorial rooms, 
from cellar to roof, his word is law. And inside, 
while he does not, as many persons would have it sup- 
posed, dictate the paper's policy nor spend half his 
time suppressing news, his word is law, subject to the 
court of last resort. His decisions hold good, in brief, 
unless they conflict with the paper's constitution. 

Rarely has the business manager served an appren- 
ticeship in the editorial department. Often when he 
has not risen by degrees in a newspaper's business 
office he comes from a banking house where he has 
learned how accounts are kept, how collections are 
made, and how notes and other commercial paper are 
handled; and sometimes he comes from a mercantile 
or manufacturing establishment, where he has been 
taught these things, and in addition has been trained 

305 



306 Making a Newspaper 

to direct other men, to buy and sell to advantage, and 
to conduct a business economically. Whatever his 
training he must be quick to detect a schemer, for con- 
tinually he is pursued by men who, while possessing 
no money, have brilliant plans which they say need 
only to be exploited to bring in floods of wealth. On 
their prospects, they would like to make arrangements 
for the advertising which is to put them on the road 
to affluence. Not often do these schemers succeed in 
painting word pictures radiant enough to dazzle the 
business manager, for constantly hunted, he becomes 
shy and hard to bag. 

Few persons not having intimate knowledge of a 
newspaper have any idea of the great amount of 
money required to start one, or to keep one running 
which is already established. The mechanical equip- 
ment and delivery service alone may demand an invest- 
ment of several hundred thousand dollars — there is 
one New York paper whose mechanical equipment 
cost $1,000,000 — supplies are in constant demand, 
and the salary list is a long and heavy one. For 
a new paper the salary list of the editorial department 
is especially formidable, as editors and reporters who 
have employment with well established publications 
are always reluctant to change to a venture that at 
best is in for a rough voyage, and can be attracted 
only by high pay. A good many of the newspapers 
that are started soon become memories, and fewer 
than are generally supposed are paying their own way. 
The sum of $3,000,000 would hardly suffice at the 
present time to equip a first-class newspaper establish- 
ment in New York City, issue a morning and an even- 
ing edition paper, build up a circulation of 75,000 
for each, and place the establishment on a money- 



The Money-Making Department 307 

making basis. Run on the lines of those already es- 
tablished and possessing no extraordinary features to 
recommend them to the public, the two papers might 
continue to lose money for twenty years. When one 
learns that there are in New York business managers 
who are compelled to reckon with an average weekly 
expense account of nearly $50,000, he can understand 
the possibility of heavy losses. And it might be added, 
in contrast, that there are in New York newspapers 
which could not be bought for $10,000,000. 

An honest newspaper which does not sell news to 
other publications has only two sources of income. 
One source is the public, which buys the paper for its 
news, its editorials, or maybe its pictures. From this 
the return is comparatively small; but upon the nu- 
merical strength of a paper's readers and their financial 
standing as a class, depends the size of the income 
which flows from the other source — the advertisers. 
It might be supposed, at first thought, that the paper 
which had the largest circulation would be most prized 
by advertisers. But such is not always the case; the 
class of readers is a large factor in determining the 
worth of a paper as an advertising medium. There 
are some publications which even make a virtue of the 
fact that they do not have large circulations, content- 
ing themselves with asserting that their readers are 
more likely to buy than are the readers of some other 
journals. Papers which make this claim generally 
sell for two or three cents ; and advertisers, keeping it in 
mind that persons who pay these prices for newspapers 
can probably pay prices above the average for other 
things which they may desire, are willing to buy space 
in their columns at rates which would not be warranted 
were the number of readers alone considered. 



308 Making a Newspaper 

The ideal newspaper from the standpoint of the 
business manager would be one selling for three or 
five cents which had a circulation larger than any of 
its competitors. But there are few publications which 
come close to answering this description. Almost 
always the paper which has the best class of readers, 
ability to buy here marking the classification, has far 
from the largest circulation, while, in the great centers 
of population, the paper which has the most readers 
rarely numbers among them many individuals who 
are wealthy. Where, however, there is one advertiser 
who asks about the class, there is always another who 
inquires about the number of a paper's readers. The 
merchant who had cheap groceries to dispose of would 
never think of advertising in a paper the bulk of whose 
readers were bankers, brokers, or merchants, and the 
paper he would most highly prize would of a certainty 
be ignored by the man who had for sale high-priced 
automobiles. 

Of readers alone a newspaper may get too many 
for its own good, for a large circulation unaccom- 
panied by advertising receipts in proportion is a costly 
luxury. It is not in selling its issue to readers that a 
newspaper makes a profit, but in selling advertising 
space. The individual copies of a newspaper are sold 
at less than cost, if the advertising receipts are not 
counted, so in one sense the more copies a paper dis- 
poses of the more money it loses. Generally a paper 
which finds its circulation growing so that new equip- 
ment is necessary, must advance its rates for adver- 
tising space, or operate at less profit. An increase in 
the amount of advertising may serve instead of higher 
rates, but not always, for as advertisements cannot be 
allowed to crowd out news, an increase in their bulk 



The Money-Making Department 309 

may demand a larger paper and consequently more 
paper and ink, and maybe more presses and a larger 
delivery equipment. 

While an honest newspaper which does not sell news 
has only two sources of income, it does not necessarily 
follow that all newspapers are dependent upon what 
comes to them through these channels alone ; far from 
it. A widely-read newspaper has money offered to it 
on all sides, and if it takes all within reach it sinks 
pretty low. Some papers, seeking to justify the course 
they pursue, draw distinctions that are too fine for the 
average man to comprehend, and among these are the 
ones that in return for an extra compensation print 
disguised advertisements in their news columns. For 
example, a paper may print a long article in its news 
columns, saying that oil has been discovered on prop- 
erty owned by Blink, Blank & Co., "the well-known 
brokers." The public, reading this, thinks how lucky 
Blink, Blank & Co. are, and John Smith, Henry Brown, 
and others hasten to the offices of the brokers to invest 
their money in these same oil lands, which is just what 
Blink, Blank & Co. had planned when they paid the 
newspaper to make the announcement. Or again, this 
same newspaper may declare with much enthusiasm 
that James Black, after years of experimenting, has 
perfected an automatic machine which is going to rev- 
olutionize the making of shoes, and when Mr. Black 
forms a stock company to manufacture and operate 
the machines, the persons who read of the wonderful 
invention pay him well for the possibly worthless 
stock. In New York City there are no papers which 
will print advertisements disguised as news; when an 
advertisement is in a form that does not readily dis- 
close its identity it is labeled at the end by the abbre- 



3 1 o Making a Newspaper 

viation "adv." or some symbol such as a star or a dag- 
ger. 

But many newspapers which would absolutely re- 
fuse to print disguised advertisements do, without hesi- 
tation, print advertisements which decency should 
taboo. Also they fill whole pages with prospectuses 
of concerns which promise to make wealthy all who 
patronize them, when, as everyone who has any con- 
nection with the papers knows, the men who make the 
great promises are swindlers who prey on ignorant 
or unusually credulous persons. A few years ago, 
when one of these "get rich quick concerns," as they 
are called, went to the wall, it was made public that 
its promoters had succeeded in getting into their 
clutches more than $2,000,000, while the creditors 
numbered over twenty thousand. This concern had ad- 
vertised in scores of papers in all parts of the country. 

A large part of whatever temptation there is comes 
to the business managers, and with opportunities for 
adding to their papers' incomes on so many sides, the 
wonder is that they do not more frequently allow 
themselves to be convinced by the plausible arguments 
of those seeking their favor. 

One of the first tasks of a business manager, his 
paper having a home and a mechanical equipment, is 
to engage an advertising manager and a manager for 
the circulation department. After finding these men 
he can proceed to organize his clerical force, compris- 
ing a cashier, bookkeepers, solicitors, clerks to receive, 
measure, and record advertisements ; and general office 
clerks, including those who are to sell papers either 
over the business office counter or direct from the 
pressrooms. With the editorial rooms, though, and 
these include the quarters of the reporters, he rarely 



The Money-Making Department 311 

concerns himself. He is required to furnish the money 
to pay the men employed there, and because of this 
has the right to protest against any needless extrava- 
gance, but he usually disposes of the matter, and at the 
same time shifts part of his burden, by going to the 
editor-in-chief and the managing editor at intervals, 
and telling them that until further notice they may 
have a certain amount of money every month to run 
their end of the paper. 

As the business manager's aim is to make the paper 
remunerative, he gives the greater part of his attention 
to the procuring of advertising and to the distribution 
of the printed papers among the dealers who put 
them into the hands of the readers. In a few 
establishments he personally directs the men who go 
about soliciting advertising, telling them whom to 
see and how to present and explain the advantages of 
the paper, but commonly the advertising manager 
gives the specific instructions. In any event, the busi- 
ness manager fixes the advertising rates, that is, sets 
the price at which space shall be sold, and conducts 
negotiations with the leading advertisers, among 
whom are the proprietors of the large dry goods 
houses and department stores. He also closes con- 
tracts with the agencies through which advertisements 
of patent medicines, cigars and cigarettes, beers and 
whiskies, and other widely advertised articles are 
placed by the makers. These agencies receive a com- 
mission from the paper on all money which they turn 
over to it, and they make it their business to learn as 
much about a paper's circulation and the class of read- 
ers it has as is possible, so that they can deter- 
mine whether the prices asked for space are equi- 
table. 



3 1 2 Making a Newspaper 

It is worth remarking here that a business manager 
does not simply say that space is worth so much an 
inch. He considers the advertisers' wants and posi- 
tion as much as his own, and makes them pay in pro- 
portion as they may reasonably expect to benefit. How 
the classification is determined is sometimes hard to 
see, as when a banker is required to pay more than a 
broker for his announcements, but the business mana- 
ger works it all out to his own satisfaction, and is pre- 
pared to explain when a question is raised. There is 
one New York paper which will, for a servant desiring 
a situation, print a three-line advertisement for fifteen 
cents. But from a householder who wishes to engage 
a servant, it will for an advertisement of the same size, 
demand twice this sum. If the mistress suffers an 
accident in the street, and later advertises for witnesses, 
the three lines will cost her ninety cents, and if tired of 
living alone she advertises for a husband, she will for 
the three-line advertisement have to pay three dollars, 
or twenty times as much as the servant who wishes 
employment pays to make her desire known. 

Both advertising patrons and readers are pursued 
assiduously in large cities, and the larger the city and 
the richer the paper — for where money is plenty only 
successful solicitors are employed — the more energetic 
the pursuit. If a merchant places an advertisement in 
one publication, representatives of its competitors are 
never long in appearing to ask for a share of his busi- 
ness, and each caller can present reasons why the paper 
he represents should be recognized. Generally each 
paper is content to have its own good points set forth 
without any reflection being made on its contempora- 
ries, but occasionally the solicitors direct the adver- 
tisers' eyes to weak points in the arguments of one 



The Money-Making Department 3 1 3 

another and this may be followed by rebates, commis- 
sions, free insertions, and cut rates appearing as weap- 
ons in a fierce warfare. Of course, all the papers suffer 
while the fight is on, for with the amount of advertis- 
ing remaining about the same, the only result is a 
smaller gross return, and decreased receipts for each 
publication. 

Greatly desired by every paper, but extremely hard 
to capture, is a fine showing of the kinds of advertis- 
ing that come under the heading ' 'Classified," all the 
small announcements that fall in with "Help 
Wanted," "Situations Wanted," "Lost," and "To 
Let." These advertisements are in demand, because 
in addition to paying well, they increase circulation, 
and enable the paper to get close to its readers; and 
they are hard to get because they follow the crowd and 
go only where others of their kind are found. They 
act like ducks, and as in duck hunting, decoys are 
sometimes employed to attract them; but never has 
this kind of hunting proved very profitable to the 
paper trying it. Generally, the paper which has no 
classified advertisements can pursue them with solic- 
itors, advertise for them, cut rates, give premiums, 
and even offer to print them for nothing, without mak- 
ing any progress worth mentioning. And the paper 
which has a fine array can usually do away with 
solicitors entirely, expend no more than a nomi- 
nal sum in self-advertising, charge high rates, and 
even increase them, and still have the prized advertise- 
ments keep rolling in, so long as it maintains its stand- 
ard as a newspaper and does not, through some mis- 
take, make itself widely unpopular. The situation is 
this: when a man desires employment, he carries his 
announcement to the paper which prints the most ad- 



3 1 4 Making a Newspaper 

vertisements of this kind, because he knows that it is 
to this paper that the persons who wish to employ 
help naturally turn; and reversing the situation, 
the man who is in the market for help, of course, pat- 
ronizes the paper which he knows is inspected by place 
hunters. 

In the larger cities the daily publications do not de- 
liver papers direct to readers, the force required to 
deliver the output of one big establishment alone 
would make a good-sized army; but nevertheless, the 
circulation manager is forever devising means of get- 
ting new customers. Often he employs solicitors to go 
around and offer books of various kinds to persons 
who will agree to allow the newsdealer nearest them 
to deliver the paper to them for a year, and again he 
holds out other prizes. But commonly, after submit- 
ting to the business manager suggestions whose 
adoption he thinks would add to the paper's attractive- 
ness, he strives to attain his end by having the 
paper widely and promptly circulated. He never 
forgets that a paper, no matter how excellent it 
be, cannot win readers to whom it is never of- 
fered, and he does not allow himself to entertain the 
mistaken idea that a paper that is slow to reach the 
newsstands will even hold its own; that with other 
papers spread before them readers will be content to 
stand around and wait for the arrival of the paper he 
distributes. An occasional man may do this fre- 
quently, and the average man may do it occasionally, 
but neither will be content to make it a steady practice. 
Unable to procure their favorite paper at the time 
they know it should be on hand, both sooner or 
later turn to other papers, it may be for good, for fre- 
quently a man finds in a paper with which he has not 



The Money-Making Department 3 1 5 

been familiar more features that appeal to him than 
are contained in the one to which he is accustomed; 
and again, reading a certain paper for a few days, if 
for no other reason than that it is the only one pro- 
curable, a man may come to select it through habit. 
The persons who walk up to a newsstand, lay down 
their money, and pick up the first paper upon which 
their eyes chance to light are exceedingly few. 

The notice printed at the head of the editorial page 
of many of the largest papers to the effect that the 
publisher will consider it a favor if any person who is 
unable to procure the paper at his newsdealer's will 
make the fact known, means all that it implies. It 
means that the circulation manager will do his best to 
remedy the defect, and when he does his best in a case 
of this kind he generally accomplishes what he has set 
out to do. He remembers the man who made the com- 
plaint, and writes him a letter of thanks, but he does 
not set to work as if only a single customer were to be 
satisfied. He knows that where one man takes the 
trouble to write there are a score who will remain 
silent, and further, he tells himself that there are in 
the same locality, in all probability, a half hundred 
more persons who now giving no thought to the paper 
might become its patrons if it were placed within their 
reach. At least, he will change a delivery route to get 
his paper into the neglected territory, and he may go 
further and make out a new route. 

If any newspaper publisher imagines it is not worth 
while hunting readers as individuals, he should pay a 
visit to Brooklyn and investigate the methods pursued 
by the oldest paper of that city, a publication that is 
a success in every department, and a great money- 
maker. Somehow, whenever a new family moves into 



3 1 6 Making a Newspaper 

Brooklyn, this paper, the Eagle, learns of it; just how 
is an office secret. Within a week the woman who heads 
the household receives a typewritten letter, — not a car- 
bon copy or a fac-simile, — signed by the paper, saying 
it is glad the family has moved to Brooklyn; that it 
hopes their experience in the city will be pleasant and 
satisfactory; that it will be found that the Brooklyn- 
ites are neighborly, and that "if you will take an 
active interest in our social and political life, you and 
your family will soon have a desirable list of new 
acquaintances and friends." Not a word is said about 
the paper. Within the next week the family receives 
free of cost a copy of the paper's almanac, which sells 
for fifty cents, and an invitation to visit the paper's 
home, one of the show places of the city. Then a 
young woman representing the publication calls on the 
newcomers; never before 9.30 o'clock in the morning 
or later than 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and gives 
them any information that she can; tells them about 
car lines, schools, churches, stores, and places of 
amusement, and if they ask any questions which she 
is unable. to answer, promises to make inquiries. The 
visitor makes no more direct mention of the paper 
than did the letter, but leaving the house she stops at 
the nearest newsdealer's and orders that a copy be 
delivered to the family for one month, the bill to go 
to the paper's business office. At the end of the month 
the young woman makes another call, and this time 
the family is asked how they have liked the paper, and 
whether they have decided to take it regularly ; and no 
matter what the reply, the visitor leaves as she came, 
smiling. No family is neglected, not even foreigners 
who cannot speak English. The promotion work costs 
about one dollar "per prospect," yet the publisher gets 



The Money-Making Department 317 

returns that satisfy him that his campaign is a winning 
one. 

When it comes to getting the paper circulated 
promptly, the business manager and the circulation 
manager are always endeavoring to improve on exist- 
ing conditions. Hearing of a new piece of machinery 
that will save a few seconds in the pressrooms, they 
hasten to inspect it, and, the treasury allowing, make 
arrangements for its installation; the opening of a 
new street railroad or the putting on of a new train by 
a railroad company sets them to poring over time- 
tables and maps; and the introduction before the al- 
dermen of an ordinance providing for the visiting of 
unusually severe penalties upon fast drivers, induces 
them to rush upstairs to see the editors, down town to 
see lawyers, and across town to see politicians. The 
circulation department keeps those who control it ex- 
tremely busy, and it keeps them worried, too, for it is 
forever breaking down in spots. The horses that draw 
the wagons get sick or go lame; the wagons go to 
pieces either through hard use, or suddenly in colli- 
sions ; the drivers are arrested for running over some- 
one or coming near it, sometimes missing trains as a 
result; and the newsboys become disgruntled because 
they cannot get eleven instead of ten papers for five 
cents. 

Issues intended for the city the circulation men 
rush from the pressrooms into wagons that are driven 
as fast as the police will allow, which commonly means 
as fast as the horses can go, to distributing points 
where they are met by the newsdealers and newsboys. 
In New York both the elevated and subway railways 
are also employed; large bundles of papers are piled 
on the platforms of the cars at the stations nearest the 



3 1 8 Making a Newspaper 

offices and distributed along the entire roads to wait- 
ing retailers. At certain stations, too, thousands of 
papers are thrown off and carried to wagons waiting in 
the street, which carry them either direct to the retailers 
or to distributing points. The New York papers were 
among the earliest users of automobiles, but the ma- 
chines they tried were found to be too light for the 
work, and were discarded. Evening papers dispose of 
thousands of their issues at the pressroom doors and 
especial efforts are made to supply the newsboys 
quickly when the papers that give the closing quota- 
tions of the stock market are coming from the presses. 
All through the financial district these quotations are 
in demand, and the first paper to reach the scene makes 
the most sales, as at this time there is little waiting 
for favorite publications. Covering the district thor- 
oughly and having a clear field for fifteen minutes, 
a paper could probably distribute twenty thousand 
copies. Papers intended for out-of-town readers are 
forwarded by both mail and express. For the morn- 
ing issues there are special trains of express cars 
which stop only at large towns ; at small stations bun- 
dles of papers are tossed off without the train slacking 
speed. 

Of necessity the business manager, while he would 
like to devote himself exclusively to the acquisition of 
money, must give part of his time to the spending of 
it. Not every week is there a call for machinery, but 
supplies are in demand constantly, foremost among 
them paper and ink. The bill for paper is one of. the 
largest items of expense — there are papers which use 
over $500,000 worth in a year — and this bill must be 
met promptly, for the companies which manufacture 
paper are comparatively few, and none of them is, for 



The Money-Making Department 319 

want of an outlet for its product, forced to deal with 
customers who are slow to pay. Another large item 
of expense with which the business manager must 
reckon is the bill for telegraph tolls, which when sub- 
mitted is turned over to the managing editor for in- 
spection and indorsement. Of course, it is to the 
advantage of the managing editor to keep this bill as 
low as possible, as the amount it requires must be de- 
ducted from the sum set aside for the maintenance of 
the editorial department. 

But no single item of expense in a newspaper es- 
tablishment overshadows that which stands for labor. 
The editors and reporters, as well as the business office 
force, are generally well paid — the business manager's 
own salary commonly coming second to only that of 
the highest paid editor, and not a bad second at that — 
and no matter what they receive the compositors and 
pressmen, and all the other workers in the mechanical 
department, get wages that must be classed as high. 
When editors and reporters are engaged there is bar- 
gaining sometimes, but there is none where mechanical 
workers are concerned. Having set the price at which 
they hold their services, these men stick to it at all 
times. They get their price or they do not work. The 
result is that the compositors, stereotypers, and press- 
men in many establishments fare as well as do all 
except the highest-paid reporters, while the foremen 
get salaries that compare favorably with those received 
by the subordinate editors. 



THE END 



INDEX 



Abbreviations, 208 

Accidents, how learned of, 
76, 78 

Accuracy, stress laid upon, 210 

"Add," how used, 201 

Advertising, income from, 307; 
disguised, 309; rates, 312; 
classified, 313 

Anonymous journalism, 205; 
editors unknown, 269 

Anonymous letters, how treat- 
ed, 38 

Arrests, news of, 77; statis- 
tics, 87; care in reporting, 
212 

Artists, on assignments, 127; 
training, 245; making pic- 
tures, 247 

Assignment schedule, prepara- 
tion, 106; how employed, 123 

Autoplate, stereotyping, 296 

Bad habits, how regarded by 
editors, 151 

Bank, composing room, 289 

Bank failure, reporting, 173 

Beats, definition, 29; prizes for, 
52; hard to procure, 135; 
how sought, 136 

Beginners, early assignments, 
150; opportunites for quick 
advancement, 161 ; overlook- 
ing news, 169 ; writing about 
themselves, 204; salary, 27s 

Bennett, James Gordon, new 
journalistic methods, 14 

Bohemians, in newspaper work, 

I 5 I 
Bowery humorists, created on 

paper, 217 
Bribes, to be guarded against, 

176 



Brooklyn Eagle, printing ma- 
chinery, 299; seeking read- 
ers, 315 
Bulletin, how used, 133 
Business manager, 305; weekly 
expenses, 307 ; promoting 
circulation, 311; salary, 319 

Cable, widely used, 220; writ- 
ing for the, 228 

Cartoonists, under managing 
editor, 128; trained artists, 
246 

Catch line, use of, 131 

Circulation, in United States, 
12; of leading papers, 18; 
how gained, 312; carefully 
guarded, 314; city and 
country, 317 

City editor, in office organi- 
zation, 27; watching the city, 
63; schedule, 106; hours, 
115; making news, 118; as- 
signing reporters, 121 ; on 
the look-out, 125; reading 
stories, 131 ; afraid of libel, 
138; manning a big story, 
141 

Clearness, necessary in a story, 
196 

Code, telegraph, 226; forbid- 
den to war correspondents, 
228 

College, preparation for jour- 
nalism, 242 

Combination, reporters in, 162 

Composing machine, pioneer, 
16; kinds in use, 285 

Condensation, not everything, 
197 

Copy cutter, 286 

Copy holder, 292 



321 



322 



Index 



Copy readers, functions of, 27; 
number of, 125; at work, 
130; editing stories, 192; in 
line for promotion, 275 

Coroners' office, news of, 59 

Correspondents, 222 ; foreign, 
224 ; home, 225 ; space paid, 
232; instructions for, 234 

Courts, supreme, 59; police, 
89 ; Federal, 61 ; Appellate 
division, 62; reporting trials, 
202 

Critics, over zealous, 213 

Department editors, 2J) good 
stories uncovered by, 141 

Department reporters, watch- 
ing for news, 58; skilled 
workers among, 158 

Dialect, decreasing use of, 211 

Don't list, 194 

Dramatic critic, seeking news, 
62; tickets for theaters, 256 



Flattery, sometimes useful, 182 

Follow copy, 209 

Foundation builder, functions, 

of, 98; must read papers 

carefully, 103 
Franchise, cost of co-operative 

newsgathering association, 

238 
Freedom allowed reporters, 215 
Free lance, 264 
Fudge, quick printing device, 

301 

Gifts, reporters dare not ac- 
cept, 177 

Good taste, must not be 
offended, 205 

Gossip, 63 

Gratuities, in journalism, 255 

Greeley, Horace, in editorial 
controversy, 23 

Grumbling among newspaper 
men, 266 



Editorials, by whom written, 
31 ; how regarded, 33 

Editor-in-chief, duties of, 27; 
owner's representative, 30 ; 
assigning editorial topics, 31 

Editorial writers, at work, 31 ; 
methods of, 33; office stand- 
ing, 34 

Education, for journalism, 240 

Employment, seeking, 255 

Exchange editor, 27 

Experience, where it helps, 
171 ; where it is lightly 
valued, 269 

Extra space reporter, 264 

Fame in journalism, 269 

Filling space, 198 

Financial news, how gathered, 

60; beyond beginners, 164 
Fires, alarms, 73; shifting of 

engines, 74; handling a fire 

story, 141 
First editions, how guarded, 47 
"Flash," how used, 133 



Headings, hard to write, 134; 
limitations, 135 ; examples, 
135 ; danger of libel in, 138 

Humor, how regarded, 205 

Identifications, care in report- 
ing, necessary, 186 

Illustrations, seeking material 
for, 127; picture making, 
247; photo-engravings, 283 

"Insert," how used, 201 

Instructions, given to report- 
ers, 215 ; for correspondents, 

234 

Interviewing, how note-taking 
affects, 182; gone to ex- 
tremes, 202; reporter, 249 

Introduction, how constructed, 
192 

Johnstown flood, reporting the, 
160 

Journalism, in America, 6; yel- 
low, 8; distinctive American, 
14; new impetus given to, 



Index 



323 



15; individuality in, 23; 
school of, 253 

Kill, definition, 43 

Labor, cost of, in newspaper 
establishment, 319 

Lead, how employed, 200 

Libel, fear of, 44; in Police 
court news, 95 ; through 
editing, 138; watched for by 
lawyers, 211; sham defenses, 
212 

London, news sent to New 
York, 225 

Make-up, how directed, 45; 

early morning, 115 
Managing editor, duties of, 36; 

in command, 41 ; reading 

proofs, 42; making up, 45; 

scanning rival papers, 47; 

traps for, 49; measuring his 

men, 52 
Memory, should be cultivated, 

183 
Mental alertness, 242 
Mergenthaler, Ottmar, 16 
Morgue, office repository for 

clippings, 126 

Names, care in reporting, nec- 
essary, 209 

News, by whom uncovered, 55 ; 
where watched for, 57 ; finan- 
cial, 60; society, 63; from 
the police, 78; gleaned from 
newspapers, 98 ; certain kinds 
expected, 109; how value is 
determined, 144 ; definition 
of, 168; negative, 169; tele- 
graph, 219; kinds not 
wanted, 235 

Newsgathering organizations, 
local, 67; telegraph, 219; co- 
operative, 221 ; origin of, 
223 ; how conducted, 238 

Newspapers, where read, 1 ; 
changing, 2; definitions of, 
4; sensational, 8; new move, 



11; statistics, 12; circulation, 
18; editions, 18; ownership 
of, 23; arrangement of arti- 
cles in pages, 45; holidays, 
97; busy days for, 98; cost 
of starting a paper, 306; cir- 
culation, 308 

Newspaper office organization, 
22; workers, 26; hurry in a, 
45 ; starting the _ day, 97 ; 
rules, 194; unrest in, 258 

New York Herald, founding 
of the, 14 

New York Sun, Sunday sup- 
plements, 41 ; the newspaper 
man's paper, 162 

New York World, how com- 
plaints are regarded, 212; 
instructions to correspond- 
ents, 234; press room equip- 
ment, 301 

Night city editor, 129 

Note taking, sometimes sup- 
presses news, 182 

Odd stories, highly valued, 169 
One-story reporter, 197 
Operator, telegraph, receiving 

news, 226 
Organization, newspaper office, 

22; police department in 

New York, 70 
Originality, desirability of, 169 

Paper, cost of, 17; furnished 
for writing, 206 ; for printing 
presses, 298; yearly cost of, 
318 

Paragraphing, 207 

Photographers, on assign- 
ments, 127; quick work of, 
248 

"Pi," 293 

Plant, false story, 163 

Plate matter, 230 

Police, as newsgatherers, 69; 
organization, 70 ; in training, 
72; blotter, 73; bulletins, 78; 
headquarters reporters, 82; 



3 2 4 



Index 



detectives, 84; statistics, 87; 
giving aid to reporters, 155 

Police courts, how guarded, 
89 ; stories from, 91 ; re- 
porters at work, 92; statis- 
tics, 95; good places to gain 
experience, 158 

President's message, in type 
before delivered, 251 

Printing press, development of, 
15; modern, 295; making 
ready, 298; cost of, 300; 
capacity, 301 ; fudge, 301 

Prizes in journalism, 266 

Promises, reporter should be 
slow to make, 178 

Promotion, how regulated, 158; 
copy readers in direct line 
for, 275 

Power possessed by reporters, 
216 

Proof, read by managing 
editor, 42; making correc- 
tions, 195; reading in com- 
posing room, 291 

Punctuation, 209 

Qualifications, for journalism, 
147; ability to see news, 
149; good health and en- 
thusiasm requisite, 150; for 
an artist, 245 

Query, use of the, 226 

Questions, asked by readers, 
38; must be direct to un- 
cover news, 180 

Quick printing device, 301 

Quotations, 208 

Railroads, effect upon news- 
papers, 11 

Reporters, requirements, 28 ; 
unsalaried, 55 ; department, 
58; volunteer, 64; general 
workers, 66; news bureau, 
67; at Police Headquarters, 
82; in Police courts, 89; 
day of rest, 97; rewriting, 
107 ; receiving assignments, 
121; writing stories, 128; 



first-class men scarce, 148; 
beginners, 153; all kinds of 
assignments, 159; the spe- 
cialist, 163; danger of defeat, 
167; telephoning stories, 203; 
hours, 214; special stories, 
248; forsaking journalism, 

259 

Rewriting, early morning, 107; 

requires skill, no; examples 

of, in 
Running story, 202 

Salaries, highest, 271 ; in New 
York, 272; other large cities, 
278; small cities, 278 

Scandal, how learned of, 63 

School of Journalism, 253 

Scoop, definition, 29 

Seeking employment, 256 ; 
through letter writing, 261 

Shorthand, not necessary, 249 

Society news, 63 

Space rates, payment, 274 

Sporting editor, seeking news, 
63; making up, 115; working 
with city editor, 141 

Stereotyping, 294 

Stock phrases, forbidden, 205 

Story, definition, 28; rewritten, 
107; rules for writing, 189; 
two kinds, 189; human inter- 
est, 190; introduction to a, 
192; how planned, 193; body 
of, 193; office rules, 194; 
principal aim of, 195; techni- 
cal words to be avoided, 
199; tense, 199; stock 
phrases, 205; details, 206; 
telegraph, 232; in printers' 
hands, 286. 

Sunday editor, directed by 
managing editor, 39; select- 
ing stories, 40 

Sunday newspaper, circulation, 
2; when printed, 19; charac- 
ter of, 41 

Suppressing news, 177 

Syndicates, markets for stories 
and pictures, 246 



Index 



3 2 5 



Telegraph, news sent by, 219; 
private wires, 227; news re- 
ceived in pressroom, 303 

Telegraph editor, wide field, 
224; sending orders, 227; 
reading copy, 229 

Telephone, employed in collec- 
tion of news, 183; grow- 
ing use of, in journalism, 
203 

Timely article, approach to 
news, 263 

Tips, value of, 181 

Typewriter, in newspaper 
offices, 252 



Wait orders, explanation, 107; 
when employed, 133 

War correspondents, when 
they exist, 165; do not 
monopolize wires, 228; as 
winners of fame, 269; salary, 
272 

War news, collected at great 
expense, 223 

Webb, James Watson, in edi- 
torial controversy, 23 

Women, in journalism, 279 

Yellow journalism, origin of, 
8; seeking sensations, 170 



Two Books on Live Questions 
The Working of the Railroads 

By LOGAN G. MePHERSON of Johns Hopkins^ 
264 pp. $1.50 net. By mail, $1.65 

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The Investments of Life Insurance 
Companies 

By Dr. LESTER W. ZARTMAN of Yale 
259 pp. $1.25 net. By mail, $1.37 

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in the United States." — Springfield Republican. 



Henry Holt and Company 

Publishers (hi, » e7 ) New York 



FOUR CENTURIES OF THE 
PANAMA CANAL 

i5y WILLIS FLETCHER JOHNSON. With 1 6 Illustrations 
and 6 Colored Maps. 8vo. $3.00 net. By mail, $3.25. 
Dr. Johnson has been, sinee de Lesseps* time, a close student 
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OUR PHILIPPINE PROBLEM 

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A study of American Colonial Policy. i2mo, $1.50 net. 
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A book of vital interest, based on personal investigation 
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AMERICA, ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 

By WOLF von SCHIERBRAND, Author of " Germany of 

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Considers America's relations to all the countries affected by 

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29 W. 23D Street (m, 'o 7 > New York 



Bmerfcan public problems 

EDITED BY 

RALPH CURTIS RINGWALT 

IMMIGRATION : And Its Effects 
Upon the United States 

By PRESCOTT F. HALL, A.B., LL.B., Secretary of 
the Immigration Restriction League. 393 pp. $1.50 
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Henry Holt and Company 

29 West 23d Street New York 



Wage Earner's Budgets 

A Study of Standards and Cost of Living in New York City 

By LOUISE B. MORE. With a preface by Professor Franklin H. 

h Giddings, of Columbia University. 

With many Tables, 8vo. About 275 pp. Probable price, $2.50 net. 
A report of the first sociological investigation carried on under the 
direction of the Greenwich House Committee on Social Investigations. 
Committee:— Edwin R. A. Seligman, Chairman; Edward T. 
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rand, Henry R. Seager, V. S. Simkhovitch, Secretary. 

This Committee, realizing the great opportunity for 
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York City. The author is a Wellesley Graduate who held 
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John Glynn 

By ARTHUR PATERSON. $1.50. 

A novel giving a vivid insight into settlement work in London. 

The author, who was for over ten years secretary of the Charity 
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Henry Holt and Company 
Publishers <w, '°7) New York 



